Coincidence: a Taishiro Story
by LouiseSyes
Summary: Rewrite! of my story Coincidence. Taichi realizes that he may think of his best friend in a way he probably shouldn't. Nothing in the world can make him think it's okay, but he still finds himself fawning over the younger boy. Can Taichi come to terms and accept his feelings, or will he completely lose his Koushiro to something he technically pushed him to? Taishiro
1. Chapter 1: Hot Chocolate Eyes

_Hello fellow Taishiro lovers,_

 _You may have read my first upload of this story. I still have it up here on , but I'm doing a rewrite. I've gotten better at writing, and I've been busy writing original stuff, but now I'd like to revive this story in order to clear my block. I hope I can finish it this time._

 _There are many things very different in this version. Please re-read if you are a fan of the first one._

 _I've changed where this story was headed._

* * *

 **Coincidence**

Chapter One: Hot Chocolate Eyes

On a cold winter's eve, a teenage boy of seventeen was strolling along the sidewalk in his neighborhood. The sun already set, and the sky was a deep black, highlighted with the bulbs of the city. There were never any stars out because of the thousands of folks burning energy, but it didn't matter in winter as the clouds would only blot out the sparkling wishes anyway.

Taichi wasn't one to stare up at the sky for more than a moment. His mind was usually filled with what he was going to do next, whether it was playing his favorite sport or lazing around in front of the television. However, he found himself more willing to stare deep into nothingness lately. He had something on his brain, but even he couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly.

So what was he doing out in the cold on a dark night? He volunteered to look for his little sister's roaming cat Miko. He didn't understand why the cat wandered off, but he was even more confused as to why Hikari whined to go find it every single time. He had to get used to his sister's overly caring attitude towards everything she held dear, but it did get overwhelming at times.

Every once in a while he remembered to call the cat's name and glance around, but he kept getting lost in his own thoughts. Well, he called them that, but they were very…vague. He wanted to understand why his concentration was slipping during every second of the day, but he just couldn't figure it out. He recalled his friend Koushiro comment that he might have developed ADHD, but he couldn't take it too seriously as it was meant as a joke. That Koushiro…not one for joking.

As the snow crunched under his shoes, he kept moving forward until he turned the corner to see another apartment building. His soft, chocolate-colored eyes lowered. "Hm… Izzy's place," he murmured, his warm breath a vapor as it escaped his lips. For some unknown reason, he wanted to walk up the many stairs and find the Izumi residence.

He needed to find Miko before his sister became more worried…

Without realizing it, he was already up the second flight of stairs. His right hand dragged along the freezing, metal railing as he nearly unconsciously made his way to his friend's home. Koushiro was a good friend since they returned from the Digital World. Not only did they discuss so much about what was going on with that aspect of their lives, but they also had private study nights (mostly for Taichi's benefit). They would talk friendlier with each other, even though Koushiro was nearly two years younger than he. Age didn't really separate them too much as the younger skipped two grades and was currently in Taichi's class.

"Tai!" a small voice called, waking Taichi from his thoughts. His body halted as he turned to glance behind him to see his redheaded friend. He was about halfway up the stairs, and Koushiro was rushing up the last flight to catch up. The younger boy's cheeks and nose were flushed from the winter air, and his mahogany spiky hair was a bold color against the dreary backdrop. He finally arrived on the flight of stairs Taichi was frozen at; he had a medium-sized paper bag in his hands. "Cat?" he asked with a smile.

Taichi couldn't really respond, let alone understand what was just asked…or said…? What did his friend just say? He was so caught up in staring at him for some reason. Why was he out in the cold? He looked so breathless like he'd been running; he shouldn't run in such freezing, dry air. So many things ran through his mind as he frowned.

Koushiro tilted his head to the right, "what's…wrong?"

Taichi blinked, finally snapping out of it, "h-huh? Nothing!" He suddenly felt unbalanced, but he caught himself on the railing before falling like an idiot.

Koushiro reached for him and grabbed at his shoulder, but his hand planted firmly on Taichi's chest. His dark eyes startled as he gasped, "careful!"

"I'm fine!" Taichi laughed it off as he stood up straighter, but his chest through his coat felt so warm as he tried to ignore the boy's hand on him.

"So," Koushiro started hesitantly as he let him go, "you never answered. Are you looking for the cat again? Or did…you come to visit?"

Taichi blurted out, "to see you of course!" He flinched as Koushiro's eyes lit up at the answer. He looked so happy to know that. "Well," he hummed in a guilty manner, "actually kind of both. I mean, I went looking for Miko, and I was this way, so I thought I would drop by and maybe warm up a bit?"

"Warm up a bit?" Koushiro repeated. "But you live a couple of blocks away."

"Well, I'm really cold, and I don't want to go all the way back home just to warm my hands and stuff and Kari will ask where the cat is and!" Taichi put his hand level to his face like a half prayer, "come on, buddy. Let me hang out for a minute or two?"

Koushiro smiled again, "you know I don't mind, Tai." He stepped around him to get to the third floor where he lived, "come on."

Taichi followed him intently like a child following their favorite character. He didn't know why this felt so exciting, because he went to Koushiro's home many times, some at night in fact. It just wasn't anything special, but then again it was… It always seemed special when he was in the younger boy's room alone with him. Before he could finish that thought, his friend opened the apartment door to his home.

"I'm back, Mom," Koushiro called as they entered. He and Taichi slipped off their shoes. "Tai was looking for his runaway cat and in the process became a stay," he added as his mother walked into the area to greet them.

His mother Kae smiled at Taichi, "so nice to see you as always, Tai." She giggled a little as she took the paper bag from her son, "both of you have pink faces. I bet you are freezing. If you two would like, I can whip up some hot chocolate. It's no trouble." She looked at their guest, "how about it, Tai?"

Taichi loved the Izumi's cooking; he could eat there every day if he could. His friend's mom really knew how to do it all from food to beverages to desserts. "I would love some!" he answered with a proper bow.

Kae carried her paper bag into the kitchen as she added, "I will bring it to you when it's done. Shouldn't be but a minute!"

Koushiro led his friend to his bedroom where his computer was the only light until he flipped the overhead bulb on. His room was a neat and clean as ever. He slipped off his thick fleece hoodie and sighed, "You should consider some sort of tracking device for it."

Taichi's head was in soft, marshmallow clouds of hot cocoa dreams. "Huh?" he murmured as he slipped off his coat.

"For your cat," Koushiro chuckled when he sat in his computer chair.

" **Kari's** cat," Taichi nearly snapped. "Man, it's not a big deal that it runs off, but she's in my face whining, _Tai! Tai! Miko's gone! Where could she be? Miko! Miko!_ "

Koushiro snickered into his hand while he watched his friend fuss, "at least you and Kari get to have pets. My father is too allergic to animal dander and can't be in contact with it."

Taichi dropped his coat on the floor before sitting on Koushiro's bed. He sighed, "you're not missing much."

The computer made a notification sound, and Koushiro turned to it to click on a pop-up window. He smiled to himself as he began typing.

Taichi stared at him intently. He felt funny…sort of strange that his friend suddenly cut his attention to the computer. He took a deep breath and smirked, "so…whatcha doing?"

Koushiro answered simply, "talking to my American friend Wallace."

"Who?" Taichi asked with a pout.

"I told you about him, remember? He's a digidestened like us, but his egg produced twins instead of one digimon."

Taichi felt something weird in his gut, "oh, you mean that kid. Yeah, back when we saved the world from-"

The door opened, and Kae stepped in with two mugs, "warmth is served, boys. I put extra cream in yours, Tai."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Taichi gasped happily as he took his.

"You're welcome, dear," she said, sitting her son's on his desk. She then walked out, "have fun, boys!"

"Thanks, Mom," Koushiro called softly as his attention wasn't exactly with anything except his dialogue with Wallace.

Taichi blew into his mug before taking a sip. It was amazing! He sighed as it was still too hot to enjoy. He glanced at his friend again and continued his thought, "as I was saying, you know…when you and **I** saved the world." His expression hardened as he was being ignored, " **together!** "

Koushiro flinched and looked at his guest, "yeah! Yeah, I know. Wait, what?" He was very confused now.

Taichi cut his eyes away, "nothing."

Koushiro frowned at his friend's pout. Taichi always had a way of making him feel horrible yet so wanted at the same time. "What is up with you now?" he asked.

"I said nothing," Taichi muttered. He then added dramatically, "just how am I supposed to feel when I came over to hang out, and you're talking to someone else?"

Dark eyes couldn't leave the sight of the immature teen on his bed. He smiled and hummed, "oh don't worry."

Taichi blinked and arched a brow at him, "about what?"

Koushiro smiled nervously, "you seem a little anxious that I'm talking to Wallace, but well…after Tentomon, you're my top friend."

Taichi gazed at him with a blank expression, "I am?" He honestly never thought about whom Koushiro's best friend was, but he really had no idea it would be him. Was it really true? Why was he so excited about it?

"We've been through so much together. I mean, the only reason I went to camp that fateful year was because you invited me."

Taichi felt like wincing; back then it was his mother who told him to invite the awkward younger kid in his futbol club.

Koushiro continued as he picked up his mug and stared at it, "And even if I do argue with you, I know it's okay, because you always come off as completely apologetic. I don't feel like someone you **have** to speak to. We get along well enough, and if I had to pick one of the digidestined to be in a panic room with, you'd be my first choice."

Taichi wondered if his friend was blushing or just still pink-faced from the cold. He let a small smile slip, "thanks." He sipped his hot chocolate and hummed happily.

"Sorry for getting emotional. I just felt like I had to reassure you," Koushiro mumbled as he took a sip of his, too.

"Emotional?" Taichi chuckled; his friend's dense perception of human talk never ceased to amuse him. "Don't be sorry. I mean, yeah, you don't have to reassure me. I was just being jealous. That's all."

"Jealous?" Koushiro piped curiously.

Taichi felt his ears and face heat up as he flinched again. "Jealous? Did I say that?" he blurted out.

Koushiro nodded silently, still waiting for clarification.

Taichi could feel his face getting red. Why did he feel this way? He was so embarrassed. He quickly tried to explain, "I think of you like a really close friend. And well, you're my best friend, too, so I was just…yeah."

"I am?" Koushiro mimicked Taichi's earlier shock.

"Yeah, I mean, thought Matt and I would hang out more, even more with Sora, but… Well Matt has his new band, and Sora is into tennis now. Kari isn't much to hang out with now that she and TK are closer. So I really only hang out with you in my spare time…. Unless you count my futbol friends, but I don't think they count."

Koushiro smiled warmly at him, "thanks, Tai."

Taichi began to feel that feeling he had before Koushiro found him outside. It was like an urge or something. It felt like the time he had a crush on Sora and wanted to tackle her in order to make her see him. Koushiro had the softest eyes when he looked at him, and now it was so…

Turning his drink up and gulping it down, Taichi stood up and fanned his burning tongue.

Koushiro blinked, "what are you-"

"I gotta go!" Taichi snapped as he set the mug on Koushiro's desk before grabbing his coat and running out of the boy's room.

Koushiro bolted up and followed him all the way to the door, where his friend was hastily putting on his shoes, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Taichi snapped nervously as he barely got his shoes on his feet. He opened the door to leave, "thanks for having me, but I really gotta go. Sorry! Sorry, I'll see you tomorrow at school, Kourshiro!"

"Leaving already, Tai?" Kae asked as she poked her head out of the kitchen.

"Thanks for the drink! It was great!" Taichi called out as he exited the door and shut it behind him.

Koushiro was left to stare at it in confusion. He let a smile slip as he wrung his shirt with his nervous hands, "he…called me Koushiro…"

Taichi hurried down the stairs and threw his arms into his coat to actually wear it. He nearly ran down every flight until he slipped and tumbled off of the last two steps. He hit the concrete face-first with a huff. His body was on fire, so it didn't faze him. He scurried to his feet and began running towards his home.

His heart was beating so hard…so fast…

It wasn't long before his lungs felt the ache of dry air. It hurt so much to keep running, but he didn't want to stop. He wanted to get as far away as he could, but he also didn't want to go home yet. He slowed to a trot and panted heavily as he hissed out the pain in his lungs.

Why?

Why did he feel that way towards Koushiro. He was so confused as to why he felt so distant from his life, but now that he figured out the cause of it…he was totally lost in confusion. He felt about Koushiro how he felt about Sora years ago. He always wanted to be around him, had him on his mind every waking moment…

He found himself standing against the brick of his apartment building. He didn't have the cat; he couldn't go inside yet.

His back slid down the side of the building as he lowered to sit in the snow. It was freezing, but he didn't care. He looked up at the sky, still void of color. His shaking hand ran through his hair, which was a bit damp from all the sweating he didn't realize he was doing.

He liked Koushiro…in a very bad way.

Panting, he felt his courage slip away from his very soul as he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He lowered his head and hugged his knees as he tried to forget, but he couldn't. He couldn't turn away from what he just realized.

* * *

 _First of all, thanks for showing interest._

 _Second, if I screw up some names, please tell me. For example, I have named Koushiro's mom Kae, becasue I found in a wikia. If she had an official name, please let me know. That goes for any other parents' names I come across._

 _(Unlike the first version of this story, Taichi realizes very quickly that he has feelings for Koushiro. I also made them older and in the same class.)_

 _Review or Follow_ _if you like it!_


	2. Chapter 2: Chopped Carrot Fingernails

_Here we are for the second chapter. This is where it takes a completely different direction from my first version._

 _I wasn't sure if I wanted to base this in current time or back in the 90s, so I'm thinking just back in the 90s, so they have flip phones and slower computers. Because of this time period, I wanted to let it sink in just how "forbidden" a homosexual relationship could be back then._

* * *

 **Coincidence**

Chapter Two: Chopped Carrot Fingernails

Walking to school on a super cold morning was the least of Taichi's worries. The night before he lost all of his courage, and he was doomed to forcing himself to be sociable. That just wasn't him; he was a social king! Now? He felt so lost, so belittled and worried. What were people going to think if they found out? How would they find out? What **if** they found out?! It was too much to bear.

He sat up so late, his mind ready to burst with this realization, and now he was groggier than he ever could be. He was so slow with getting ready that Hikari called him a sibling slur before heading out to school alone. His mother asked if he was ill, but with only a touch of his forehead, she deemed him fit to leave the house. That was his last hope…

So much filled his heart—worry mostly, confusion, anger, love, guilt… He wanted it to just go away, but at the same time he didn't. He flung his backpack over his shoulder as he made his way out of his apartment building. He had to get over it, but he didn't know where to start. He had to push it out of his mind, but how? He was so engrossed with the sickness inside his soul that he almost didn't notice a certain redhead boy standing on the sidewalk.

Taichi froze and backed up as soon as he caught sight of Koushiro, who was standing with his backpack on his shoulders with his back turned to him. Taichi peered at him from the corner and debated on whether to go that way. Wait? Was he down to ignoring and avoiding his friend? It felt like the right thing to do, but he didn't want to do that. What was he supposed to do?!

Koushiro turned his head and looked in his direction, but Taichi hid behind the corner just in time. He felt low, so very…low. He waited a while before peeking again to see Koushiro with his back turned again. His heart sank; was Koushiro waiting for him? Surly not!

He glanced at his watch; he only had ten minutes to make it to school before the first bell rang. If he didn't make a move, he wasn't going to have enough time to get his books for his first class. Panic welled inside him as he looked around for another route. He couldn't face his friend, not yet. He sprinted down an alley, carefully enough not to slip. He ran all the way to school, but because of the longer route there, he was late.

In his first class, he couldn't concentrate on what his teacher was talking about at the blackboard. He mostly wondered how long Koushiro waited for him before heading out alone. He couldn't bear to think of what his friend might have thought when he never walked by. He felt sick and all the guiltier.

When the bell chimed, he left his class and made it to his locker where he would exchange his textbook for another. Sadly, he knew that he would have Literature with Koushiro next. Thankfully they didn't sit right next to each other in that class, so at least he wasn't going to be forced to speak to him. He had to really concentrate and force himself to seem like he was paying attention to avoid Koushiro the best way he could. With a deep breath, he knew that he could do this.

"You must have been very late this morning," Koushiro's voice said from out of nowhere.

Taichi slammed his locker shut to see the shorter boy standing next to him. He almost yelped in pure terror, but he did his best to keep it in check. His luck really went down the drain since the evening before.

Koushiro had that curious expression again; it was adorable. "I waited for you for nearly twenty minutes, but you never showed up. Kari said that you were being slow when she passed by me."

Taichi forced out a laugh, but his face showed only agony, "yeah! Yeah, I uh…" What could he say? What could he… Then he thought of something. He abruptly coughed into his sleeve until his face was red. He lifted his face and frowned miserably, "I'm not feeling so hot today."

Koushiro was a bright boy, but for some reason he actually believed him. "Do you feel that bad? You should've stayed home, Tai. You know that most colds develop into something serious because they aren't taken care of?"

Taichi faked another cough into his sleeve, "no, no, I mean, I think I'm okay for now, but yeah, really tiring. I'm exhausted."

Koushiro stepped closer and looked into his eyes, making the older boy flinch rather uncomfortably. He lifted his slender hand up to brush his fingers against Taichi's forehead before pressing his palm there. He then put his other hand on his own head, "you feel a little warm."

Taichi's entire face boiled, and even he could feel his raging blush. He jerked back and hugged his book to his chest, "I should see the nurse then!"

"Are you dizzy? Do you need me to go with you?" Koushiro asked in concern as he reached for him.

The bell for the next class chimed.

Taichi walked around his friend, "no thanks! There's the bell. You better get to class. If the teach asks where I went, let him know, okay? Thanks!"

Koushiro blinked blankly as he watched the older boy run off past many students in the hall. He wondered why Taichi was acting so jumpy. He wondered if he did something, but usually when he thought he was at fault, he was corrected. After Taichi telling him so many times that he wasn't to blame or not being weird, Koushiro didn't feel that he was any longer.

He looked at his hand—the one that touched Taichi's head. As he walked to class and sat down, he wondered how he could help his friend feel better. He felt a bit awful that Taichi caught a cold after being out in the chilly night air. He decided that he needed to do something nice for him, but he had to figure out what.

Taichi didn't come to class, so Koushiro assumed he was sent home. It made him worry a little, but it was only a cold if not nothing. He made sure to swing by Taichi's locker just to make sure, but he didn't see him. The next class he had was with Taichi, too, but he didn't come for that one, either. By the end of third hour, he was convinced that his friend must have had a fever.

As always Koushiro stayed after school to meet with the computer club, but he wasn't really into it. The club was more or less just a bunch of students in a computer lab typing away, not speaking. There was a girl named Miyako, who liked to ask him questions, but she seemed rather independent that day.

Afterwards he left school alone and walked home alone like he usually did when he wasn't with Taichi. Was it sad that he didn't have any friends to hang out with except for Taichi? The previous evening, he did tell the older boy that he was his top friend, but he neglected to add that he was kind of his only human friend close enough to actually be around.

He arrived home, greeted his mother, and went to his room to do his homework. She offered him a snack, but he denied due to the fact he just wasn't hungry. He didn't really care to do anything after he quickly finished all of his assignments. He felt a bit guilty that he didn't gather all of Taichi's homework from his classes to help him out; that would have been nice if he would have thought about it.

He lied on his bed for nearly an hour when he had nothing else to do. He couldn't shake the state of disposition his friend was in that morning. Taichi was never so on edge, and it sort of started the evening before. Thankfully his parents got him a cell phone on his last birthday, which served as a private chat for him and his friend. He only used his phone for that purpose and calling his parents.

He flipped open his phone and sent a message to the older boy: _Did you go to the doctor?_ He didn't know what else to start off with.

It was nearly ten minutes before he got a text back from Taichi: _No._

Koushiro frowned as he rolled over to lie on his stomach. He texted again: _Are you okay?_ He was asking not only for his health but his state of mind. He never got such a short text in such a lengthy amount of time waiting.

Taichi texted back promptly this time: _Yes_.

Koushiro felt a bit sick himself. He felt like a bother, even though many times before Taichi would tell him he wasn't. He hesitantly texted back: _Alright. I don't want to disturb you if you're resting. Contact me later._

There was no response for another ten minutes. Twenty minutes passed. Thirty minutes, then forty minutes ticked away. Soon it was an hour of nothing but Koushiro opening and closing his phone, checking for a new message, maybe something that would give him some reassurance. He didn't understand; Taichi always said the last word, always had a conversation with him at least.

After that Koushiro agonized over it.

Dinner with his parents was like a bombardment of questions about if he felt well, because apparently he showed his anxiety when he didn't mean to make them worry. He didn't feel like eating or having special dessert his mom created. He didn't want to talk to his parents or watch television with them. He washed his face, but he didn't like what he saw in the mirror. He slowly became quite angry with himself.

What did he do wrong? Was it really something he did, or was Taichi going through something totally unrelated? But it was just one day of this weird behavior. He had to hold off on worrying until it really became an issue.

He was exhausted, but he didn't really sleep. He tossed and turned, upset about everything. To think he was so unexplainably happy when Taichi visited him the night before. He went over all they said in his mind, but he couldn't find a reason for Taichi bolting out like he did.

The next morning Koushiro felt a bit groggy from the sleepless night. He didn't wait for Taichi like the day before, because he told himself that his friend might be home with a cold or just needed some space. Whatever the reason, Koushiro was willing to push all of his anxiety away and go to school with a positive attitude. If Taichi was there, they could talk. If they talked, he would give him no reason to think he was offended or upset. Everything was fine.

But everything wasn't fine.

First of all, Koushiro happily greeted Taichi at his locker. The older boy clearly got there before him and wasn't as sick as he thought. Though, Taichi didn't really look himself. He wasn't as jumpy, but he still held a bit of uneasiness. "Feeling better?" Koushiro asked with a forced smile.

Taichi's eyes avoided him, and his voice was small, not confident at all. "Yeah, I'm okay," he said as he picked his book out of his locker and shut it. "Gotta get to class," he added before turning away and walking quickly into the river of students rushing to their rooms.

Koushiro frowned, wishing that they had the same first hour. Something was wrong.

During second hour, Koushiro didn't meet him at his locker and instead went straight to class and sat down. He felt like an undercover PI as he watched how Taichi walked into the room and sat down lethargically. He casually watched him to see if he was perky with anyone else, and he actually was…

One of their classmates, a boy walked towards Taichi and held up his hand, "Yagami, missed ya yesterday."

Taichi lifted his hand and gave the boy a high-five and actually smiled at him, "thought I was sick. I'm good now, though."

The boy walked to his desk and sat down.

A girl sitting in front of Taichi whirled around and spoke to him about borrowing a pencil, and he seemed to talk to her with a smile, too.

Koushiro felt a bit sick. Why couldn't he get a smile? Was it that Taichi was showing them fake smiles and respected Koushiro too much to be fake towards him?

Class went by so slow, and neither friend could concentrate. When the bell chimed to let them leave, Koushiro noticed that Taichi made conversation with another classmate and actually walked with them to their lockers. Feeling left out, the younger boy made his way to his own locker and exchanged his books.

The morning was rather awkward.

When they were finally dismissed for lunch, Koushiro approached Taichi again in the hallway, but the older boy acted like he didn't see him and hurried along with Yamato, who had very few classes with them as he was stuck in mostly remedial subjects. Sora was with him and talked to Taichi, too.

Koushiro ate in the computer lab alone.

He didn't try to talk to Taichi again, and in return, he wasn't spoken to.

He walked home alone again. He greeted his mom and went straight to bed.

The next morning he woke early to get his homework done before leaving for school. His mother asked him to take a muffin with him since he didn't have much time to eat, but he ended up throwing it out on his way there.

Taichi was at school with no visible ailments. He seemed solemn but put on a smile for the others. Koushiro not only didn't want to be the first one to approach, he almost didn't think about it the entire day. He felt a bit nostalgic, because it was the way he used to be before returning from the Digital World. Before that, he didn't socialize at all.

Was it that Taichi was bored of him already? Well…after years, was he bored? It made him sick to think about what he might have done to be a bother and drive his friend away, but it was only the third day of being ignored. It wasn't like it was a week or anything.

He ate alone in the computer lab again, but this time, someone entered with a high-pitched voice. "Izzy! Hey!" It was Mimi; he didn't see her much since he skipped a couple of grades. She had a half-wrapped sandwich in one hand and a cola in the other. She walked up to the table he sat and smiled, "nerd! You even eat in here, huh?"

He forced a grin, "oh yeah, I guess."

She set her drink on the table before pulling a chair up and sitting with him. She flipped her soft brown hair over her shoulder and took a bite of her sandwich. Her bright eyes glanced around casually as she ate.

He hesitantly picked at his bento and tried not to eye her, "so…you never eat in here…"

"I'm hiding away," she huffed. "I'm getting hassled by the girls about this guy named Hiro. I don't want to go to the party with him Friday, but they just insist I date him. I wanted some peace and quiet."

"I see," he mumbled, still not really eating. He wasn't hungry.

She glanced at his barely touched food, "are you going to eat your carrots?"

He looked at his rice and chopped vegetables, "uh no… Do you want them?"

"Gimme!" she piped excitedly as she picked one out of his bento with her perfectly manicured fingernails. She crunched down on it and chewed in a dainty way.

He accidentally frowned as he recalled how Taichi would swap food with him with they ate.

Mimi noticed his expression, and she wasn't one to keep silent, "what? Did you want the carrots after all?"

His dark eyes cut to her concerned expression, "no, you can have them. I don't mind. I'm not really hungry."

She hummed, taking another. "You look sort of angry about something."

He was a little appalled that she would assume such. He was careful never to show his anger, let alone allow himself to be angry. "I'm not angry at all."

She shrugged, looking at the carrot, "the Izzy I know would be chatting on about Digimon or something. Like, seriously, I was a little worried you were going to drone on like you usually do when I saw you in here."

He frowned, feeling a bit awkward, "I'm just tired."

"You can tell your sweet Mimi about it," she said, leaning towards him. Her bright eyes bored into his as she waited. She was almost shallow but still a very kind and courteous girl. She held the crest of Purity for a reason, and no matter how much of a hotshot she acted like, she really did care about her friends, especially the Digidestined.

"I just feel sort of like I'm uh…lonely?" he told her hesitantly.

Her lips parted to grin widely, "is that all?! I can help you!"

His gut churned as he wondered what she was about to do to him. All he could guess was that she was going to invite him to a girly day out with her giggling friends.

"Come to Toshi's party with me Friday!" she said happily. "I think Matt and Sora were going to go, too. We can meet there, and you can hang with me and my gal pals!"

Koushiro looked away, "I'm not really a party type-"

She giggled, "whatever, everyone likes a party. You'll have fun. Say you'll go!"

"I don't think so," he mumbled.

She reached out and grabbed the tie of his uniform, dropping her carrot in the process, "you're going!"

His eyes grew wide as he looked at her nervously, "but I-"

She tugged his tie, "Izzy!"

"Okay," he squeaked.

She grinned again and let him go, "great!" She forgot all about the carrot and continued to eat her sandwich. "You probably don't know where Toshi lives, so I'll either come by your place Friday or maybe you could get Tai to walk there with you. He's on Tai's futbol team, so he should know."

Koushiro felt like telling her that going anywhere with Taichi would be a no-go, but he kept his mouth shut. He hoped that by some miracle the girl would forget all about it by Friday, but something told him he was very wrong.

The day withered into evening, and Koushiro found himself alone in his room again. He waited for a text from his dear friend, but he didn't get anything. His phone was as lonely as he was. He became drowsy very early in the night, but he never felt sleepy enough to pass out. He stared at his phone for hours, wondering if he was too obsessed.

He texted a message: _Did I do something wrong?_ He debated on whether or not to send it for a long time, but he finally let it go.

The wait was about three minutes. Taichi answered: _no, of course not. Don't think that._

Koushiro bit his lip and texted again: _I thought maybe I had._

Taichi answered promptly again: _no._

The younger waited for more, but there was no more. He didn't know if his friend was even being truthful. Maybe he was too nice to tell him that he was a burden as a friend. He didn't text him again, and at around five, he dozed off just in time to wake up for school about two hours later.

The remaining days of the week crawled by, and nothing changed between them. Koushiro was hopeful that after their texts Taichi would speak to him, but he was wrong to think that.

Nothing happened.

Koushiro was alone.

* * *

 _Because of the new Digimon Tri posters and art, I have to assume that everyone goes to the same high school (Hikari and Takeru going to the same middle school, too). I'll know for sure after watching the new movie this weekend, and any changes will be made._

 _If there are any typos or anything you want to point out, let me know!_

 _Thanks for reading so far~_


	3. Chapter 3: Green Tea Buzz

_Thank you to all who favored my story. I appreciate you clicking that favorite button, because that lets me know people are reading and waiting for more. I'm so glad someone likes this so far!_

 _Did everyone watch the first Digimon Tri movie? I did, and...there is quite a bit of Koumi aka Koushiro/Mimi. But that's cool. I honestly like Koushiro with either Taichi or Mimi, so I'm keeping on with this story for those of you who are ONLY Taishiro fans._

 _I also want to apologize for not updating as soon as I wanted. I just recently found out that my heart condition has taken a turn for the worst, and I might need surgery again. I've been very depressed about it, so not much has gotten done. But I'm more at peace with it now, and I want to keep writing this._

 _Hope you all like it._

* * *

Chapter Three: Green Tea Buzz

Avoiding Koushiro all week had been brutal, but Taichi knew it had to be done. He had to cure himself of these…feelings. His heart continued to break as he noticed how worried and upset Koushiro gradually seemed to get, but he couldn't let him know. What would he think?

The last exchanged messages really hurt him deeply. When Taichi received a text at two in the morning, he was a little shocked that it was Koushiro, and he was even more disgusted with himself when he read the younger boy's question: Did I do something wrong? When Taichi read that, he couldn't help but respond as soon as his fingers could type the words correctly. He had to let his friend know that he didn't do a damn thing wrong. It was his own fault. He didn't sleep at all that night and actually fought the urge to cry. He was so upset and angry with himself. He made Koushiro feel horrible, and it made him sick.

He didn't want to avoid him, but he needed to. Every time he saw the redhead in the hallways or in class, he told himself that it was just until he could crush his feelings for him. He thought it would go away the more he distanced himself, but it only grew stronger. It hurt, and he knew it hurt Koushiro more. If he could only tell him, but that was out of the question.

On Friday night Taichi found himself tagging along with Yamato and Sora to a party that one of his fellow futbol mates was throwing. He didn't even know what kind of party it was, but he didn't care about finding out. He just wanted to go to get his mind off of his troubles. He thought if they had beer, he would drink some to clear his mind. He drank before, but never with Koushiro. Drinking was more of a pastime with his futbol buddies and Yamato.

On the way there, Sora and Yamato obviously noticed their friend's poor disposition all week, which is why they invited him. They tried to keep conversation and pep going on the way there, but they were quite unsuccessful. The boy's home wasn't far, but Taichi felt that the walk took hours, maybe due to his agonizing thoughts.

When they entered the party, they had to wade through all of their fellow peers. The party was large, and thankfully Toshi had the room to host it in the penthouse suite. He actually forgot Toshi was sort of rich until then. Taichi noticed many teenagers drinking, and he desperately tried to find the source of it. He lost Sora and Yamato quickly, but he made his way to the kitchen to find Toshi drinking with a couple of other guys.

The host held up the can of beer, "Yagami! Grab one. I wondered if you were gonna show up."

Taichi took a can from one of the three coolers on the kitchen floor and popped open the tab. "Sora actually invited me along," he told his teammate.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't know if you would even want to show up," Toshi told him honestly.

Taichi offered a laugh, "I like parties! I like people!" He gestured the can at him, "thanks, man." He didn't hesitate to walk out into the living room where everyone was mingling.

An older girl, maybe a college student stood up on the couch and held up her fruity alcohol. She had a tiara on her head, a short dress, and messy black hair. "Is this the saddest party or what?! Come on, people. Toshi! Toshi! Come put on some music! How are you going to throw me a birthday without playing some music! Toshi!"

Taichi quickly figured out that this girl was Toshi's older sister, and this was actually a birthday party for her. He thought about how the two of them had very lenient parents to leave them the entire place for this. But he tried to let his mind be free and clear. He drank the rest of his beverage and went back for another to drink until he felt better.

Alcohol gave him a strange feeling, but it was a good feeling…well…sort of. He felt good, but he felt bad that he was doing wrong. He was sure his parents would destroy him if they found out. Yet, he shook away those bad feelings (all of them), and had a good time with his friends. He joined in dancing, he laughed with Sora and Yamato, and he even did karaoke with random people. It was fun.

He didn't even have an idea of what day it was after a long time. He didn't know what he was doing or how many beers he drank. Everything started merging together and swirling into some kind of color show. He was drowsy but still ready to party. He was happy, because he thought nothing. The best part of drinking was that he could consciously understand that he was happy.

At some point he barely noticed that he was headed for the door. He could feel something on his arm, but he didn't question it. He had enough issue trying to walk, and his mind could only focus on one thing at a time. He was suddenly cold after watching his feet walk for a while. He was outside. The chill felt good on his hot face. He had his coat on. Someone walked with him, but he was a little more worried with feeling kind of dizzy. He assumed it was Yamato, so he knew it was cool if he did what he needed to do.

"Hang on," he slurred out. "I gotta be ah gonna lose it." He instantly halted and turned to throw up everything he ate the past six hours onto the snow beside the sidewalk. He didn't notice he was swaying as he finished. He could feel someone still holding onto him, and he spoke again, "gotta sis down now." He felt kind of gross, but the last time he drank was with Yamato, so he knew he wouldn't care. In fact, Yamato was a bigger lightweight last time than he.

His butt hit a bus bench; thankfully no one was around. "Jus' give me a minute," he slurred as he held his head. He groaned, hating that he was going to have a headache. It wasn't fun anymore, and now all he wanted was a shower. He sat there for what seemed like a second, but he knew it was more than a few minutes.

Then something metal touched the back of his hand. He slipped his hands from his head and looked up to see a can of green tea. He reached for it and took a sip. He blinked a few times and opened his mouth to ask Yamato why he gave him green tea of all things, but when he looked up, he didn't see Yamato.

It was Koushiro…

Koushiro was wearing his fleece hoodie with a cold, flushed face. He looked worried out of his mind, but he stood very sturdy as if he were sober. Of course he was! He was…he was Koushiro. He probably never even thought of drinking. He was so innocent to things like that, which made Taichi think of how adorable he was.

Taichi's eyes were wide as he stared into those deep dark hues looking back at him. His breath was lost in his throat, and he couldn't say a word. No, he could. He let one word slip, and he hated himself for it. "Koushiro…" he murmured, feeling the weight of heartache. Why did it have to be him? Just seeing the younger boy in his time of drunken dizziness made him want him more. He wanted to tell him everything, and the alcohol in his blood would surly allow it. But he couldn't; he had to restrain the urge to scoop up his friend and kiss him. Wait…now he wanted to kiss him?!

Koushiro's eyes softened as he heard his given name from his best friend. He could feel his throat burning, but he tried to keep his emotion at bay. "I am trying to walk you home," he told him.

"Who called you?" Taichi slurred hastily.

"No one called me. I watched you drink and cut up for hours," Koushiro told him with a frown. "You probably don't even recall my switching one of your cans with a cola, so you wouldn't get alcohol poisoning."

"Wha?" Taichi hissed. "At the party?"

"Yeah, I was there when you arrived," Koushiro muttered.

Taichi's brow furrowed. The can of green tea slipped from his hand; it fell to the ground with a clank and leaked profusely on the sidewalk. He had to leave. He had to go far away from this endearing person. His heart felt like it was full of bricks as he fought the urge to tell him everything. He was in pain. He was in such agony.

"Tai," Koushiro started gently as he put his hands onto his friend's shoulders.

In a jerking motion, Taichi flung his arms out to push the younger boy away, but he accidentally hit his friend.

Koushiro stumbling back and pressed his fingers against his chin, where Taichi hit rather roughly. His emotion couldn't be controlled any longer, and tears filled his eyes. "Please, don't hate me, Taichi!" he cried out desperately.

Taichi sprung from the bench, not to run, but to pull the younger boy to him. He wrapped his arms around his friend, squeezing him tightly, feeling his warmth. One of his hands gripped the younger's hoodie while the other cradled his head. "Don' ever say that again!" Taichi choked out sadly. "I'm sorry, Koushiro. I'm so sorry." He was so drunk; otherwise he would've just ran.

The redhead never had such an emotional encounter since his parents confronted him about knowing about his adoption. Even his first parting with Tentomon wasn't as upsetting. This was so deep and scary. He knew his parents and Tentomon would always be there and love him, but Taichi had no real connection or obligation to stay. He could lose his friend, and he didn't know how to prevent that.

"It's not your fault," Taichi whispered to him.

Koushiro winced as Taichi's grip progressed into a strangle hold. "Tai…" he murmured when tears fell from his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he cried…

"I'm horrible," Taichi whimpered as he pulled back a bit to look at the younger's face. He gaped, feeling all the more awful. "Please, please, don' cry," he begged before removing his hand from Koushiro's back and using it to wipe his tears shakily.

The younger boy only stared at him, frozen by confusion. He didn't understand what was happening, but he wanted to help. He wanted to do everything he could for his friend.

Taichi let him go all together, knowing that he had to. He had to push back those urges to hold him. His crush for Koushiro was already so strong and grew even stronger as he stood there with him. He backed up a step and slipped on the icy sidewalk. In a matter of milliseconds, he was in pain on the ground. He winced rolling onto his right side and groaning.

Koushiro dropped to his knees when his friend fell clumsily. He put his hands onto the older boy's chest, "Tai! Are you okay?"

Taichi was now embarrassed, and he hid his face into his hands, "no. No, I want to just disappear!"

Koushiro wiped his eyes before speaking again, "my parents are at the cinema by now. Spend the night with me."

Taichi flinched and looked up at him slowly. What did he just ask? Did he hear correctly?

"Your parents would be furious if you showed up at home like this. You can stay at my house, and no one will see you in such a state," Koushiro told him quickly. He wiped his eyes as he stood back up and held his hands out to his friend. "Come on." Koushiro wasn't a proud person, and he was willing to forgive all the ignoring if it meant that he could fix things between them. He hoped that it was enough to win his friend over once more.

Taichi stared up at him for a moment before mumbling, "I can't…"

"Get up!" Koushiro snapped angrily. He was desperate to do this for him, to make everything go back to the way it was. If he could just persuade Taichi to like him again, it would be alright. He would forgive everything. He just needed his friend back.

The older boy flinched at the tone but did as he was told. He knew that Koushiro could snap, but he hadn't heard such a fierce voice from him since they were in the Digital World. He couldn't really grasp what happened in the next ten minutes. Koushiro helped him walk, and they didn't speak. Koushiro's apartment building also had an elevator, so they took advantage of it.

By the time they entered the Izumi residence, Taichi felt a little better. He was still a bit dizzy, but he wasn't sick anymore. He knew that it would be wise to use the shower to avoid spreading the smell of alcohol. Koushiro gave him a change of clothes and a plastic bag to store his worn clothes to keep the smell masked.

Taichi couldn't believe his bad luck as he stood in the shower. The steam and heat felt amazing, but he also felt…aroused. After he was clean, he let the shower run cold until he was calm. His feelings were like cancer; he now lusted after his best friend. He hated himself so much. Out of the goodness of Koushiro's heart, he brought him into his home and made sure he was okay, and all Taichi did was think horrid, dirty things about him.

As he dried off and dressed the thought about one question he'd been wrestling with: was he gay? He never thought of himself as a homosexual, but it was apparently true since he felt so strongly for the redheaded teenager. But then again, they were teenagers…maybe he was just hormonal and confused? No, this was something more than lust. He knew that lust was just a new and small part of it. He deeply cared for Koushiro, wanted him to be happy, lov…. No, he couldn't admit the 'L' word to himself. If Koushiro ever found out, he would hate him. He would think that their friendship was a farce, something to step on to get to him. He couldn't let it end like that. End… Did it have to end? What was he saying?

He did his best to calm down and level his head, but he was still buzzed. He exited the bathroom with his worn clothes in the plastic bag. Koushiro's clothes didn't fit him perfectly, since the younger was so much shorter and thinner. Taichi donned a soft cotton shirt and loose shorts that both smelled of Koushiro. The clothes he wore touched Koushiro's naked body at one time- NOPE! That was bad. He shook those thoughts away just in time to meet the younger boy in the living room.

Koushiro walked up to him and held out a sleeve of round crackers. He didn't look his friend in the eye but spoke in a small voice, "to absorb the alcohol."

Taichi frowned, knowing that he messed up so badly. He took the crackers, "th-thanks…"

"I called your mother, told her you were staying over. She asked why you didn't call, and I told her you were taking a quick shower and possibly forgot to do it. Since I am a responsible person, I did what I thought I should do and contact her just in case," he explained like some sort of stern robot. After that he turned away to go towards his room.

"Izzy," Taichi started sadly, "look…I'm sorry."

Koushiro hesitantly responded, "for what?"

Taichi mumbled lowly, "for hitting you on accident…"

"Maybe we shouldn't be friends anymore," Koushiro said almost instantly after. His heart was now chipped into a small pebble. His best friend, the only real human friend he had, couldn't even apologize for ignoring him?

Taichi's heart hitched as he stared at the boy. He could hear all of the deeply seeded anguish. "Izzy-"

"Then you won't have to worry about if I'm okay with not talking to you," Koushiro told him, still not looking at him. "I don't want to bother you anymore, Tai." It was true; he didn't want to be troublesome. He also didn't want to seem like a despairing loser, even though he truly was.

"That's not-" he started.

Koushiro cut him off again, "I don't care!" His voice trembled, "I'm grateful for you being nice to me, but I have to just stop this already. I want to get this out in the open so there will be no more assumptions or worry or uncertainty. I want to know for sure that we are not as close, so after tonight, I would rather just communicate when we have to about the Digital World-"

Taichi grabbed his arm, dropping the crackers in order to have a free hand. "Stop it!" he snapped desperately. He pulled him closer, "I told you it's me! I mean that. I'm not trying to blow you off or try to make you feel better about this. I'm ignoring you, okay?! I'm avoiding you, Izzy!"

Koushiro stared at him in shock, "w-why? What did I do?"

"Nothing, you're wonderful," he answered truthfully. He bit his lip before continuing, "I want you to trust me about this, okay? I just… I'm dealing with something that I can't tell you about."

"You can tell me anything," Koushiro told him in a breathless tone. "I can help you-"

"You can't!" Taichi snapped as tears filled his eyes. He let his friend go and sniffled as he backed up. "You can't…"

Koushiro could see the torment his friend was going through, and he not only felt regret for not being there for him but a bit of disappointment that he wasn't someone Taichi could tell his secret to. He understood, though; he probably wasn't a secret-sharing friend to him. His dark eyes lowered as he spoke as gently and non-robotic as he could, "okay…"

Taichi's eyes only projected more sadness and remorse.

"I left a blanket on the couch for you," he mumbled quietly. "I'm going to bed."

The older boy was left to watch the redhead walk to his room and shut the door behind him. Taichi couldn't believe how horrid he made his dear friend feel, but he accepted the blame. He wanted to jump off of a building, and that was saying so much given the fact he was the courageous Yagami Taichi.

His eyes lowered to the plastic bag he held, containing his clothes. His head turned to look at the fallen sleeve of crackers. It was an opened sleeve, so they were scattered about the carpet. He didn't know what else to do but kneel and begin picking them up. Every cracker was crumbled and wedged between carpet fibers, symbolic of the shattered pieces of his heart.

He didn't know what time it was when he began cleaning the mess. He had no idea when he finally settled on the couch and drifted off to sleep. The alcohol helped him to avoid staying awake and hating himself.

He only recalled wondering if Koushiro was alright when he woke up. The morning flooded the living room like a ultra-bright digi-volution. He didn't want to greet the day—a day that would start things totally differently for his friend.

"Did I wake you?" Kae's voice asked in concern.

Taichi lifted to sit up on the couch and groggily looked to see her standing in the living room with a feather duster, "oh, no." He smiled nervously, "sorry about crashing here without asking you."

Kae smiled ever so sweetly; it seemed to be her only mood. "You know there is no issue, Tai honey. We love having you over. I suppose you forgot your sleeping bag and had to take the couch?"

He got up and began folding the blanket, "y-yeah. It was a spur of the moment thing. I should really get home."

"You don't want to wait for Izzy to wake?" she asked blankly as she glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's only eight twenty-one."

His heart was a brick again, steadily sinking into a bottomless quicksand. "Well, I didn't actually get approval from my mom to stay over last night, and I think I should hurry home and ask forgiveness."

Kae's weakness and gullible mind were always swayed by a young person's respect for their elders. "Well, I hope you come over again soon, Tai. Please say hello to your mother for me?"

He nodded with a forced grin as he gathered his things and left the living room. He passed by his friend's room, wondering if he was really asleep, hoping that he did get some shut-eye. It was Saturday, so they didn't have school, which meant he could always rest when he got home.

He slipped on his shoes and headed out of their home. The winds were freezing, and he realized that he forgot his coat, but he couldn't remember what happened to it the night before. He didn't want to ask Koushiro's mother, because she would likely get suspicious that he forgot where he dropped it. He didn't want to risk it, so he managed without.

It was snowy, and all he wore was the shirt and shorts Koushirio lent him. He could still smell his friend on them, and it made him want to bury his face into the fabric, maybe preserve it somehow. He selfishly didn't want to give the garments back, because he wanted a piece of Koushiro. He wanted it, because…he was very worried that he would never be close to his friend ever again.

He hugged his dirty clothes in the plastic bag and thought about what he said the night before. He couldn't remember most of the night at all, only flashes of the party and the fact that Koushiro escorted him to his home. He remembered showering and grabbing his friend's arm to stop him from leaving. He didn't recall what all he said to him, but he was aware that he didn't confess anything.

The clearest image in his mind, though, was those beautiful dark eyes welling with tears. He made his best friend cry last night, and he couldn't feel worse. His chest actually hurt from thinking about it. He wondered if he was going to have a heart attack from what he did.

He was going to lose him; he just knew it.

When he finally got home, his father was standing at the kitchen counter, sipping a mug of coffee. The man's eyes widened as he saw his son's attire, "Taichi! You are going to catch your death!" Susumu was a simple man; he enjoyed his family, hated his job, and had a history with alcohol (aka the genetic source to Taichi's fascination with it). This day was no exception to his main concerns as a parent as he was clearly appalled that his teenage son would actually venture off in winter weather with only shorts and a shirt for protection.

Taichi sighed, "yeah, yeah…"

The man watched his son remove his shoes and groggily tread towards his room. "Something the matter, son?" he asked as he arched his brow.

Before Taichi could say anything, his mother Yuuko rushed out of her room with a coat and her purse. She halted before him and grabbed his face to kiss his forehead—even though he was as tall as she now, "take care of your sister! We are going shopping!" She gasped, "Tai, your face is freezing. Go warm up before you catch your death."

Taichi nodded a second before his mother rushed around him and began hounding her husband to hurry up with his coffee. Taichi listened to Yuuko remind the man that she waited for weeks for him to get time to go shopping with her and that she wasn't going to let him waste the day with lazing around.

Entering his and Kari's room, he saw his sister laying on her bottom bunk of their beds with a magazine and three school books. She had her history book opened, but it was obviously taking a back burner to her magazine. She looked up to see her brother in a very sad state of woe. She could tell these things about people, especially him. She sat up in a hurry, "Tai, what's wrong?"

He really wished more than ever that they had separate rooms, but the apartment was a two-bedroom deal. He was left with his side of the room which was pretty messy and disorganized, bunk beds, and his sister's side of the room, which was filled with mostly pink things. He sighed heavily, knowing he couldn't hide anything from her, "just down in the dumps. Nothing to really freak out over." The plastic bag was tossed towards their hamper.

"You sure?" she asked worriedly as he sat at the desk he used for his homework. He leaned back in the chair and didn't say another word. She watched him stare off into nothingness, and she was a little annoyed that she would have to pry it out of him. "Brother, you've been really off the past week. Just tell me what's the matter."

He frowned, trying to ignore her.

She slipped off of her bed and stepped closer, "you had a fight with Izzy, didn't you?"

He flinched, and sadly it was visible.

"I knew it!" she huffed. "You did have a fight. Do you think I don't notice that you don't talk to him at school or even walk with him anymore? Just last week you both walked ahead of me, and you mentioned that I was being a pest for wanting to tag along for snacks-"

"Leave me alone!" Taichi snapped abruptly.

His sister flinched that time; her worry filled her to the rim. There was no way she would leave him alone now, and she knew he understood it. She walked up to him and cautiously hugged his neck from behind the chair. She rested her head on his and murmured gently, "let me help, okay… I don't like seeing you so upset all the time."

He couldn't deny that his sister's hugs always felt so comforting. He knew that if he told her something, she would take it to her grave if that's what he wanted. Her loyalty to him was more than anyone could describe. He was her big brother; no matter if they argued or pressed each other's buttons, she would always look up to him and want to please him.

"Come on, Tai," she urged as they both heard the front door to their apartment open and close, along with their mother calling for them to behave while they were alone. There was no one to interrupt or eavesdrop on them. If he told his secret to her, it would be as safe as it could be. "I won't tell anyone," she reassured him.

"I know you won't," he mumbled quietly.

She didn't let him go or even make a move to remove her warmth from him. His skin was like ice, and she knew his heart probably felt the same way, too. "Then just tell me," she said. "Something is really wrong with you, and I want to know. This week you've been so moody, and I even heard you crying the other night."

He wanted to defend himself, saying he wasn't crying, that it was only sniffling, but he didn't. He knew that he wouldn't be able to walk away from her unless he started a fight with her. He didn't want someone else angry with him. Hikari would accept him and his secret; that much he knew. He trusted her that much. "It's something really weird," he murmured sadly.

She shook her head, "well I knew that much. You are the king of weird, you know."

He scoffed at her tiny joke, but it didn't make him feel better. Then he recalled something she possessed. He eyed her cautiously, "Kari…you know that manga you and your friends were going gaga over last time they stayed over?"

"Which one?" she asked blankly . She had become an avid reader of manga with her friends since a few years ago.

"You know, the…yaoi one," he muttered.

"Oh, yeah. Tai, I read a good bit of those, you know. And I like the term shonen-ai. It just sounds sweeter-" she started.

"Whatever," he sighed as he pushed her away carefully and stood up. He paced to their bunk beds and agonized over it a bit more.

She watched him with soft eyes, "what about it?"

"Do you read that genre to like…get a laugh or what?" he asked quietly.

She didn't know why he was asking such a thing. "My friends and I like the stories," she answered.

"But they're gay," he blurted out.

She shrugged, "yeah, but I think it's cute. Are you angry because of that?"

He paced around like a worried hen.

"Tai…do you want to read them, too? Is that why-" she started blankly.

"No, Kari, I don't want to…wait… Yeah!" he began nodding, "give me one. Let me read it."

She was a bit confused over the shift in conversation, but she obliged. She stepped to the side of the desk where her schoolbag sat on the floor and began digging through it.

Taichi was nervous; he really didn't know what to think of his own sexuality. He didn't know if it would be okay with everyone he knew, but seeing how his sister accepted gay culture so easily, he had to try to be…alright with it.

"I have these; my friend has my other one," Hikari said as she walked to her brother with two books. She held them up in his face. One of them had a boy on the cover dressed as some sort of Edo era monk with another guy standing behind him dressed in a samurai outfit. The other book had two teen boys holding hands, both dressed in school uniforms.

He hesitantly took the one that resembled modern times and winced as he opened it. It was a manga of course, but he wasn't met with crude porn like he thought he would see. It was actually a story with nicely drawn panels and dialogue. He blinked, flipping through it to the last page.

Hikari snatched it from him, "Taichi!"

"What?!" he snapped abruptly.

"Look; if you really want to read these, you can't flip to the ending. You have to read the whole story to actually get it, because this one has a very complicated story."

"Complicated story…" Taichi muttered at her in disbelief.

"Would you read the end of any other manga right away?" she asked.

"I guess not," he sighed.

She gave in and handed both books to him, "it's kind of random that you want to get into BL, Tai. This isn't a prank, is it?"

"No, it's not a prank," he mumbled, tossing the books onto his top bunk. "I'm going to eat and shower and then read them. I need my full concentration."

She was a little more worried about him. He needed his full concentration to read shonen-ai? She really wondered what was going on with him. She knew by the way he had been acting lately that he had a serious trouble on his mind, but now he sort of shoved it aside. Maybe this had to do with his issue. She had no idea what it could be other than he was trying to develop some apathy of some kind for people who were gay or read that kind of material. Maybe he was curious? She gasped as he left the room, wondering if maybe he was having curious thoughts. She smirked, putting her hands together, thinking about her favorite BL otp. She could introduce him to so much!

* * *

 _When I first wrote this chapter, I wanted to do more than just Taichi moping at the end, so Hikari having a fondness for yaoi popped into my head. I think it really would be a genre she would read as she seems like the type to be in favor or all love and squee over sweet relationships._

 _The next chapter will set up the main plot._

 _So please either favorite this story or review it if you like it. Also if you want to point out any errors, I'd appreciate it._

 _I will update sooner, promise._


	4. Chapter 4: Rice Ripped Emotions

_Thanks for the review! I was so happy to get it. I hope you all like this chapter, though it is a little angsty._

* * *

 **Coincidence**

Chapter Four: Rice Ripped Emotions

As school started back on Monday, Koushiro found himself more in depth with a project he set aside a while back. It was simply a theory about the Digital World, only a few notes, but he really fell into it as he tried to block out the anger, betrayal, and worry he felt for Taichi. All weekend long he worked on it, constantly before his desktop and laptop at his desk, only taking breaks to eat or shower.

By the time he had to go to school that morning, he wasn't all that interested in whatever Taichi was hung up about. As a matter of fact, he didn't even stop to wait for him like he hesitantly done all of last week. His mind was on his project, and that was that.

He walked to school with his lunch in hand; he hadn't noticed his mother's words as he left without much of a glance at her. He was back to being his robotic self…like he used to be. It was sort of nostalgic and easy to do like riding a bike after years of never touching one. His brain had a dial, and though it leaned to and fro mostly, when it was turned to geek mode, it was difficult to turn off.

His mind wasn't with his classes, not that he felt that he needed to pay too much attention. He was caught up with his studies, and the subjects weren't really difficult at all. He spent most of his class time, staring off into space, thinking about his calculations. Luckily he wasn't called on by any of their teachers, so the hours went by rather smoothly. At lunch, he sat in the computer lab and ignored his food while he scribbled notes on about six pages of blank paper.

When it was time to go home, he felt that the day was both too long and sort of brief. He had to admit that he wasn't in tune with any of the world that day, and he couldn't recall anyone talking to him. He sort of wondered if maybe they had only to be ignored by him. He couldn't help but to worry about Taichi, too. He did recall seeing the boy in classes, but he didn't focus on him like he had the week before. It was nice to keep his mind occupied, and he felt that it was best.

Kae smiled as her son walked into their home. She had a snack of chocolate-covered onigiri on a plate. She hurried to his bedroom door to cut him off before he could escape like that morning. "Sweetheart, I made these myself today. I know the last time I tried it, they didn't come out too perfect. Want to try one?" she started with a smile.

Koushiro almost stumbled into her as he was still thinking about his project. He looked at her and hummed, "s-sorry… What did you say?"

Her heart sank, but her smile remained, "do you want one?"

His eyes lowered as he looked to the plate of chocolate treats. The color…was too close to something… That pretty brown color that always gave him such warmth… A flash of Taichi's face popped into his mind…his eyes… Koushiro frowned and opened his door, "no thank you. I will later; I promise."

Kae gaped worriedly as her son walked into his room and shut the door gently behind him. All weekend, she noticed how withdrawn he was, and she wondered if he really had a fallout with Taichi. She knew that had to be the reason, but she had to keep her distance and not hover so much. She decided to accept that he needed time alone and walked back to the kitchen.

Koushiro set his backpack down before sitting at his desk. His desktop screen was black… His dark eyes dragged to the window, where the afternoon sunset filled his space with gloominess. He looked back at his computer screen and sighed. Just seeing chocolate made him depressed…why?

A low vibration erupted from his pocket, and he frowned even more. He had no idea who it could be, but he didn't want it to be Taichi. He almost didn't want to look, but his heart had the phone open in a matter of seconds in hopes that it was Taichi. But it wasn't.

It was a text from Mimi, " _hey, I wasn't at school today._ _L_ _I wanted to know what happened after you and Tai left the party. Why won't you text back?_ "

He blinked, closing the message to find about six other messages with dates that ranged from Saturday night to just now. He hadn't heard them, and it didn't shock him. He took a deep breath and texted her back, " _Nothing happened._ "

She was quick to respond, " _Did he get busted by his parents?_ "

He frowned, " _I don't know. Ask him._ "

She, as always, didn't care to play games, " _I'm just asking cause you were SOOOO worried about him when he was falling over his own feet. I wanted to see if you handled drunk Tai. Not an easy task, dummy._ "

He rolled his eyes, " _he spent the night with me then left before I woke._ "

I minute passed before she texted back, " _What a jerk! No flowers by the bedside? LOL jk jk jk! :D_ "

His entire face burned when he read that.

She sent another, " _in movies, you gotta offer to make breakfast the next morning to make him stay!_ "

His heart pounded. No no no no… He didn't understand why he was getting so hot and bothered over her teasing. He set the phone on his desk and bolted up to shuck his coat he forgot he even had on. It was extremely warm, and he could feel sweat forming.

The phone buzzed again, " _sorry, Izzy! You know I'm just playing with you. Not for real, just for play!_ "

But it somehow meant more than that. He didn't want to face it. But what exactly?

His tie was now on the floor. His school shirt unbuttoned with nothing but his white undershirt showing the sweat collecting. His fingers shook as he tried not to think about any of it…

He was so obsessed about why Taichi ignored him…

Jealously…anger…all of the hurt…

Worrying about the idiot when he was too drunk to stand…

Crying and wishing that he would talk to him again…

Having to revert back to his former locked personality just to keep from thinking about him…

The chocolate reminding him of those beautiful brown eyes…

He found himself standing in the middle of his room, just behind his desk chair. But suddenly he caught something out of the corner of his eye. His closet was opened, and a familiar garment hang there by his clothes. He hesitantly stepped up to it and touched the heavy navy fabric, realizing that it was Taichi's coat. He thought back to barely recalling his mother saying something about washing it for the teenager, because it seemed to smell funny. Koushiro yanked it from the hanger and held it like some kind of unknown artifact, but he knew it very well. Taichi receive this particular coat last winter from his mother.

Minutes passed before Koushiro hugged the garment to his chest, thinking how it caressed his friend's torso daily. He recalled holding onto Taichi's arm while he walked him home the night of the party. He remember so clearly how it felt to have the athletic teen's bicep on his arms; he could still feel his sturdy arm through the fabric, and it made him feel so…strange.

Slowly he buried his face into the coat and took a big whiff, but since his mother washed it, it didn't smell like Taichi anymore. That saddened him. He wanted to cry, because the item belonging to Taichi had no essence of him—no warmth, no scent, no happiness. And now he was even more distraught, because he thought of how he might never get to hold onto Taichi's arm ever again. He ended their last conversation on such bad terms. And did Taichi hate him so much that he wouldn't even come for his coat?

Koushiro wondered if Taichi would ever forgive him. What could he do to get him back? He just wanted to see him again, talk with him like usual. If he could just go back to the way things were, he knew that he could be happy again. He wanted no one else to fill that position— **no one**.

Stopping his thoughts for just a moment, he felt the weight of them. He lowered the coat from his face and shuddered as he finally came to terms with why he felt so strongly about their friendship's possible end. This ran deeper, and he, who had very little notice of feelings, understood all of a sudden…

His wide eyes filled with moisture as he finally realized why Taichi didn't want to be friends. "I love him," he accidentally mumbled to himself. That was the reason—Taichi realized that Koushiro was in love with him and didn't want that kind of relationship. It made sense; Taichi was better at noticing emotions and feelings than Koushiro.

And it was true…

Koushiro's heart always beat so fast around his friend, and in his company, he truly felt content. He never had to worry about being someone sociable, because Taichi was always there. He always included him; he was a true friend. He was everything Koushiro wasn't—strong, athletic, brave, heroic, and confident. He was handsome and cocky; he cared more about others than himself. He was a compassionate, upstanding person, and Koushiro knew that he was lucky to be his friend. Koushiro wanted to be as close as he possibly could to Taichi, to help him and perhaps create happiness for him, too. He wanted Taichi to enjoy life, to be content. He loved him.

He loved him so much...

"What did I do?" he murmured sadly, bringing his fingers to his chest, feeling his heart beating fast. He couldn't breathe. Dropping to his knees, he covered his face with the coat again and dealt with it as silently as he could.

He was sick…

Meanwhile at the Yagami residence, Hikari handed off yet another yaoi manga to her brother, who had read more than five of them since the weekend. "Look, Tai. This one belongs to my friend, and you better give it back right after you read it," Hikari told him sternly as she stood at their beds, looking up at him as he sat in his top bunk.

He swiped it from her and answered with a grumble, "yeah yeah."

She placed her hands onto her hips, "now, you know I really don't like to pry when you get in a mood, but you still haven't told me what you really want with these. I mean, you don't look very happy reading them, but you keep wanting more."

"I can't read? Isn't that what adults have preached to us our entire lives? Read more?" he huffed as he leaned back on his pillow and opened the book.

She sighed, "come on, Tai. I'm really curious now. I never in a million years thought you would want to read homosexual romances."

"Why?!" he snapped, sitting up with an angered expression.

She was a little surprised at how defensive he was. She knew that their mother would be back from grocery shopping any minute, so she had to pull what she could out of him in a hurry. "I would just like to know, okay? Why are you reading my shonen ai like you got a book report on it or something?"

He frowned, "I just thought I would share some of your interests. Can I not do that?"

"Oh whatever," she huffed, getting frustrated.

He quickly hopped from their beds and slipped his phone into his pocket, "stop making a big deal-"

"Tai!" she snapped angrily. "You've been acting strange for the past week, and just when you're about to tell me what's wrong, you suddenly want to read slash. What is the issue?"

He huffed, "leave me alone! Stop being a brat."

She gasped, "I can't help if you're moody!"

He left their room, not looking back. He didn't want to tell her; he was afraid to admit it aloud. Why did he have to have such feelings? Wasn't his life hard enough with saving the Digital World? He threw on his very old coat and shoes at the door before walking out into the blistering cold. He needed to clear his mind before talking to her again; he didn't want to be mean anymore…

He tried to think about anything else, maybe how cold it was, what Agumon might be doing, or even the really important exam that was tomorrow. But nothing could deter his mind from mahogany-red hair and dark eyes. His feet carried him to that apartment building, but he didn't go further than the sidewalk. If he could just hear Koushiro's voice, maybe see his smile…he might could feel better.

He noticed that he still held the yaoi manga in his right hand, but he ignored it for a moment while he pulled out his phone and opened his messages, to skip through old ones from the weeks before. It was so simple before he knew he was in love. He walked on with his phone in hand, scrolling through old messages, remembering…

He found an old one from Koushiro, " _I don't think you should start running routinely in such cold weather. Your lungs might hurt too much afterwards._ "

Taichi felt like crying as he relished in the fact that Koushiro cared about him. He found a conversation between them from about two weeks ago.

He wrote, " _I can't sleep. What if I flunk the Trig exam?_ "

Koushiro wrote, " _my suspicions were correct. You haven't been doing too well with the material so far._ "

Taichi wrote, " _would you do anything for me?_ "

Koushiro wrote, " _of course I would."_ (That made his heart flutter.)

Taichi wrote, " _since I sit behind you, will you lean to one side during the exam?_ "

Koushiro wrote, " _because you worded it like that… I guess I could get a little sleepy and lean onto my left hand the entire time._ "

A rogue snowflake fell onto his phone screen, and Taichi found himself welling with emotion again. He really did lean to the left the whole exam just for Taichi to cheat. As adamant of Koushiro was about Taichi studying, he really did know that he was struggling so much and needed a good grade. He recalled Koushiro complaining about how he couldn't believe he actually enabled cheating and could have been caught. But he did it for him…

Taichi knew that these feelings for his friend wouldn't go away easily.

He sat at a bus bench for a long time with the manga, maybe more than an hour. He never intended to board the bus, and a few people would give him looks when he never got up for the long vehicle when it arrived, but he didn't care. He was too cold to keep walking, and he didn't want to go home yet.

Every yaoi manga his sister gave him, he felt both intrigued and sick to his stomach. He didn't know what to think of it. On one hand, she was right about the stories being cute. There wasn't any sex in her copies, just kissing or maybe some making out. It was mostly like any heterosexual manga where two people loved each other. He read most of them, thinking if he could possibly be like that with Koushiro…if he would be turned down or accepted… It was easier to think that Koushiro would agree to be his boyfriend when he read the stories about a cute boy being swayed by another boy; he always imagined Koushiro as the one who needed to be swayed.

But this one that belonged to her friend was different. Taichi noticed right away that the art wasn't very cutesy like the ones Hikari was into. The two characters were grown men and very stubborn about being lovey-dovey. At the midway point in the manga, the dominant man pinned the other to the floor and began to kiss him and do dirty things to him. The pinned man whimpered but didn't protest. Taichi knew that his face caught fire when he saw the top male slip his hands into the other's pants. His heart beat extremely fast as he turned the page to see the bottom man throwing his head back in pleasure, and for a second he saw Koushiro. This book was making it so difficult to say no to such an idea. His hormones were rage-filled already; this kind of _plot_ was getting him too worked up, especially thinking about his friend.

"Taichi," a male voice started before him.

The teenager looked up suddenly to see Misami—Koushiro's father. He stiffened, knowing his face was probably still flushed. He hesitantly opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He quickly shut the boot and slammed it to his lap, putting his shivering hands over it to hide the cover.

Misami was in a thick coat with a briefcase in hand. His glasses were settled on his face, but snowflakes were dotted on the lenses. He stared down at the boy with a solemn look, "are you alright? You look…bothered."

Taichi frowned, "y-yes. I'm fine…"

Misami knew that he was lying just by the look on his face. He carefully sat down next to him and sighed, "well, I have a question."

Taichi could feel the sickness stir in his stomach; he was about to get a lecture...or be blamed… It was always the same when adults started in that calm tone.

"Koushiro has been…withdrawn for over a week now," the man told him. "His mother is worrying her head off, but I keep telling her that it's probably nothing. So why don't you ease her mind and tell me what you know?"

Taichi stared at him blankly; he was shocked that the man was so blatant about it. He hesitantly answered, "I'm not sure…"

"You two are friends," Misami pointed out, "so has he said anything?"

He wanted to hurl. "No, but…I mean…I just don't know. I haven't talked to him in a few days." Flashes of Koushiro yelling at him came to mind. It hurt.

"Did you two have an argument?" he asked.

"Sort of, but I didn't think he was…" he trailed off as he knew he was about to lie. Koushiro obviously took offense and was deeply hurt about it all.

"I see," Misami sighed as he stood again, knowing that he wasn't going to get more than that. "Sorry for bothering you, Tai. I just wanted to make sure nothing was seriously wrong. You know?" He then smiled half-heartedly, "It's strange, but after his entire childhood of his constant shutting people out, we freak out over his little bursts of seclusion."

Taichi frowned more, "yeah, I understand." He waited to pull his phone out after the man bid him farewell and walked away. He gripped the cold plastic in his bare hands and fought over the decision to send a text to Koushiro. He wanted to know it wasn't because of him, but he knew it was. He also wanted to know that he was alright, but he knew he wasn't. After much debate, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and frowned sadly at the book in his lap. He felt disgusting.

Misami walked to his home, where his wife greeted him with a smile. He could tell she was putting on a strong front, and he wished he would have brought her a small gift to cheer her up. He smiled back at her and kissed her gently after removing his shoes. "The weather is going to get rough soon, so the entire office got to leave early," he told her.

Kae took his coat and briefcase, "well, I'm glad for that. I would have worried about you too much."

He glanced at Koushiro's door and then back at his wife, who shrugged sadly. He lifted his voice a bit, "I just saw Tai at the bus stop."

Kae blinked and smiled at his obvious try to let their son hear him, "oh really?"

"He looked down on his luck, like he needed a friend," Misami said in a clear tone.

They both waited for a moment, but not even a stir happened inside the room. Kae frowned, "maybe he's taking a nap. He looked a little worn when he got home."

Misami sighed, "yeah, maybe he's just tired from being at school all day. I know I am from just sitting in a cubical."

But Koushiro wasn't sleeping. He was lying on his bed, his back facing the wall and his eyes on his desktop. His dark eyes finally dried, but he felt empty. He felt numb because of the realization he made about himself. It was even more agonizing that the feeling he had when Taichi ignored him.

Life was unfair in their world… It was confusing and cruel. He wanted to disappear, and before he could agonize over that, he came up with a plan to do exactly that—disappear.

He only had about an hour until dinner was ready, and he wanted to look sane and well-adjusted for his parents. He got up from his bed, straightened his clothes and did his best to wipe his face clean of any dried tears. He gathered up all of his notes and began packing his backpack with an extra set of clothes, his laptop, and other things he might need.

By the time he was presentable, he heard his mother knock on his door and softly say dinner was ready. He took a deep breath and smiled as he walked out of his room and into the dining room, where his father sat at the table, waiting for him.

Kae sat a steaming bowl of rice on the table and smiled at him, "you look refreshed, Izzy."

"I do feel better," Koushiro said as he walked up to the table. "Mom, Dad, I want to apologize if my behavior was a bit worrisome for you."

Kae only grinned, "not at all, dear. We all get in those ruts."

"Exactly," Misami agreed as his wife sat down.

Koushiro sat down in his chair, "Well, you see it wasn't exactly a rut. I have been lost in quite a lot of thought. I realize that I might have troubled you with my quietness, but I have been working on a very important theory."

"A theory, great," Misami smiled, knowing that he was going to have to once again pretend to know what his son was talking about.

Koushiro smiled back at them, "So, Mom, Dad, this is my letting you know that I will be going to the Digital World in just under an hour."

Kae gasped instantly and bolted from her chair, "what?! Is there another monster threatening us?"

Misami didn't have her initial reaction but after hearing what she feared, he showed a great amount of anxiety, too. "Is it here, son?!"

Koushiro answered simply, "there is no danger at all." He felt a tinge of guilt when they kept their doubtful worried faces aimed at him. "I wouldn't lie to you about something like that. I just want to start spending my weekend time there, study it, access more of the secrets embedded there. I've pretty much tapped out all I can do on this end. Besides, I would like to be in the company of Tentomon once more."

Kae instantly smiled as she heard the name of the digimon her son brought home a few times, "oh, Tento! Yes, you know he can always come back with you, too! I'll cook his favorite dishes."

Misami brushed his wife's excitement aside, "Izzy, are you entirely sure you're going to be okay there? I know you spent a lot of time in that world, but we just worry about you."

"He's right," Kae agreed. "Are all of you kids going?"

Koushiro sort of felt annoyed being called a kid, but he didn't say a cross word as he usually forced back. "I'll invite some of the others at times, but this evening I'm going alone. I want no distractions." He hoped that his parents would trust his judgment.

"What about school tomorrow?" Kae asked as she slowly took her seat again.

"I would like to take a day off from school with your approval of course," Koushiro answered. "I just want a day to get a little work space set up. I'm sure you both have been aware that I have been a little sidetracked the past week; I think if I could just have the freedom I need to be with Tentomon and study the Digital World, I would be able to concentrate more here."

Misami sighed heavily, "well…just promise to take care of yourself, and I don't want you missing too much school."

Koushiro nodded, "I will always be back home on Sunday evenings; don't worry about that. Taking tomorrow is a one-time skip day for me. I wouldn't want to spend my free time making up homework and exams."

Kae smiled again hopefully, "do you want me to wrap some snacks for you and Tento?"

The boy hesitated, knowing that his mother was only trying to be helpful, but he didn't want to see the chocolate-covered onigiri again. "If you want, Mom," he answered as he knew he couldn't deny her.

"Of course!" Kae giggled.

Misami spoke to his son again, "Izzy?"

Koushiro noted the very gentle, fatherly tone, "yes?"

"I hope that seeing your friend again cheers you up. Promise that you'll be careful?"

Koushiro thought he hid his poor disposition moderately well over the past week, but he was sadly mistaken. He hated to make his parents worry at all. "I'm fine, Dad. I have been really moody, but I'm okay. I promise."

Misami smiled before asking something else, "is there anything you need? We could go to the store after dinner."

Koushiro sort of felt like a child at that moment, but he didn't let it show. He just wanted to be an adult about this, and his parents were scrambling to please him and send him on his way. It almost made him feel like they trusted him too much, but why complain about that? He was still so confused with himself, and this wasn't helping. He hesitated, "no thanks, Dad. I have everything I need."

Kae piped up, "well, eat lots now, dear. I don't want you to get there and be hungry."

Koushiro nodded as he took a sip of his water next to his plate. He wasn't really hungry at all, but he forced himself to eat as much as he could. He didn't want to add to their worry. They were being so strong and brave for him after all.

* * *

 _So Koushiro is off to the Digital World. And he realizes that he loves Taichi._

 _I will update right after finals._

 _Please favorite, follow, or leave a review! Thanks everyone!_


	5. Chapter 5: Berry Bark Worries

_Sorry for the lateness. Holidays were crazy, and I stress alot about my health. But onto the story. Thanks to all._

* * *

 **Coincidence**

Chapter Five: Berry Bark Worries

The Digital World's timeline was immensely vaster than the human world, but the hour of time was always the same now. In the late evening, the woodland of Beetleland was peaceful. Insect digimon flourished and lived in harmony, which made things ever so quiet and placid.

Tentomon, the gentle yet gossipy ladybug digimon, perched on his tree to watch the sunset like he usually did. Every day he would gather his dinner of berries, nuts, and treats to eat during the setting of the bright life-giver. This day he was rather early for the event, and he resorted to waiting patiently with his dinner sitting beside him in a cupped leaf. He often thought about his partner during his viewing of nature. When he was too early for the sunset, his mind would drift to Koushiro and their adventures, especially his time in the human world.

However, it was his lucky day, because just a few minutes before the sun would start to descend on the horizon, Tentomon would hear someone calling his name. His antennae twitched as he spoke to himself, "hm, that sounded quite familiar." He turned his head to look around and towards the ground, but he saw no one. He listened just in time to catch a faint sound of his name being called again. He did want to watch the sunset like always, but he decided it was more important to seek out the being shouting for him.

He lifted off of the branch with a buzzing of his wings, leaving his food there for later. He darted in the direction the voice came from, and it wasn't long before he spotted his partner. His big lime-green eyes reflected the face of Koushiro, who carried his backpack, a duffle bag, and a paper sack. He looked like he was struggling, which made Tentomon's heart falter. The bug digimon swooped down to the ground and perched onto the duffle bag, "Izzy!"

Koushiro winced and had to set the bag down due to the added weight. He smiled, however, and spoke to his partner with a better tone than he had in the past week, "Tentomon!"

The digimon reached for his arm and began in an excited tone, "I missed you! What are you doing here?! What is all this stuff?! What has been going on with you?"

Koushiro placed his hand onto his digimon's back, "I missed you, too. I thought I would come back and see you, but there's also some things I want to get done, too."

"What kind of things? And why didn't you visit during the daytime?" Tentomon questioned.

"Well, the thing is, I want to stay a while," Koushiro smiled. "I've been working on some theories about the Digital World, and I think if I could just stay here for a while, I can prove or disprove them. What better way to work on it than in the company of my digimon?"

Tentomon lifted into the air again and buzzed happily, "This is great!"

"Unfortunately, I can only stay for about twenty-four hours. I have to go to school after tomorrow," Koushiro told him. "But I plan to come every weekend to spend time with you and work on my project."

Tentomon began to fly forward, "this is wonderful, Izzy! I can't wait to hang out with you tomorrow. There just so happens a great restaurant just opened a few weeks ago. They have the best noodles you ever ate around here."

"That sounds good, Tento, but I'm also going to be working on some stuff tomorrow, too. So don't plan the entire day," Koushiro started as he picked up his bag and followed him.

Tentomon led him back to his tree and hovered in the air, "hm, we might can both squeeze into my tree."

" **Into** your tree?" Koushiro asked as looked up at the tall plant.

Tentomon flew to the trunk of his tree and passed through the bark like the hiding tree they hid inside their very first day in the Digital World.

Koushiro followed him inside and blinked at the size of the trunk. It was tiny! There was just enough room for Koushiro to maybe lie on his side curled up with his partner beside him. He smiled nervously, "this is…" He noticed that Tentomon was very proud of it by the way he nodded. "Just great, Tento. I'm sure I can scoot my stuff to one side and sleep tonight."

Tentomon started in a sarcastic tone, "well, if I had known you were coming, I would have fixed the place up."

"You're right," Koushiro agreed for the sake of agreeing.

"You can watch the sunset with me!" Tentomon said excitedly as he raced out of the tree.

Koushiro put his stuff down, still holding the paper bag, and followed him quickly. He hurried behind the digimon to a small clearing and a hill. It wasn't perfect for watching the sunset, but it would do. The teenager sighed and sat down with his partner.

The digimon landed next to him and looked at the sky in the distance. "I was just here thinking how nice it would be if I could watch the sun with you. It reminds me of how gradual you are, Izzy."

Koushiro looked out to see the setting orange sun. It only reminded him of Taichi's crest, but he refused to get depressed again.

Tentomon noticed that his partner was very quiet, like he usually was, but this was a different sort of lowly quiet. He tilted his head and relaxed, "so, what are you theorizing about the Digital World?"

Now that was a question Koushiro could get behind. He smiled, not taking his eyes away from the sun, "I want to dabble in the functions of it."

"Functions?" Tentomon asked.

"The Digital World is a world of computer code, so I have to believe there are functions. I mean, I saw them, read some of them, and I even decoded some back in the day. I'd like to really go deeper with that."

"Oh you want to learn more about what makes the world," Tentomon hummed, thinking how his partner would never change.

"The idea popped into my head a few years back, but I never perused it. Since this is a world of coding, I am coding when I arrive. My body converts into data when I crossover to this world, so I'm actually connected with everything here. Everything in the Digital World is coding, and my every move is coded, therefore, I am part of the code and connected to it."

"That sounds a bit…uh…" Tentomon started, but he didn't have a word for it.

Koushiro knew that he was going over his digimon's head, "Okay, let me tell you this way. I'm a variable introduced into the Digital World's coding. As a variable I have no power to change that coding, only become an admin or user via my computer which is an editor. Now, if I can alter the code that is my physical form, I can make my own self an admin."

"I still don't understand what you're trying to do," the bug digimon muttered blankly.

"Well, if I can rewrite some of my coding, I can probably convert myself from a variable to an admin. That means I'd be able to control the databases and coding of the Digital World. If I can manage that, I could easily delete any bad digimon that came across us."

"I think I see what you mean. So you want to become like the writer of the world? I don't know if that is wise."

"I'm not going to do any drastic modifications. You know me, Tentomon. I just want to see if I **can** do it. Understanding this world might be my life's purpose," Koushiro told him as he stared at the sunset.

"Yeah, but Izzy, I also know you well enough to know you can get carried away with this stuff. And you did tell me once that even you make mistakes will all this coding, so what if you accidentally delete yourself?"

Koushiro scoffed, "you bring up a very valid point, which is why I'm firstly going to write a function that will simply refresh my form if I should do anything to harm it. I will be safe and sound."

Tentomon would have frowned if he had facial expressions. He hummed as he looked at the sky, "I'm still not convinced that this is a good idea."

"Relax," Koushiro finally turned to him. He smiled warmly, "I'm not going to do all of that heavy coding just yet. I have to somehow write the refresh function and study the coding language used here until I'm completely confident I'm fluent. Otherwise, I would screw up big time." He thought for a moment before snapping his fingers, "how about before all of that, I'll start off with adding variables to the program-er-I mean world?"

"Variables like what?" Tentomon asked.

"How about I create a tree…? Or…maybe make us a house?" he pondered.

"You can make a house with just writing that? But wouldn't it be so much easier to just build it ourselves?" Tentomon asked astonished.

"Build it with our physical strength? No way," Koushiro muttered. "Since I'm not an expert with most of this coding language. I'll start it off very simple and work my way up to a fitting place to live."

"Live? You mean for me? I don't really care for sleeping in a house. I like perching on a tree or even burrowing when it's cold."

"I already told you I'm going to be coming for the weekends. That's about two days a week, about eight days a month, so on and so on."

Tentomon buzzed into the air, "are you really going to commit to that?!"

"Why wouldn't I after I said I would?" Koushiro muttered blankly.

"It just sounds great! I can't wait to tell everyone! You and me, hanging out like a couple of-" Tentomon started happily.

"As I said," Koushiro cut him off, "while we will spend a lot more time together, I'm going to be deciphering and learning this coding first and foremost." He then remembered the paper bag in his hand and opened it, "oh, my mom sent some treats for you."

Tentomon gasped excitedly, "your mom is such an excellent cook!" He held his claws out to receive the chocolate-covered onigiri. "What is this?"

Koushiro smiled a bit, "chocolate—very sweet. You had it before, I believe."

Tentomon stuffed his mouth full and buzzed happily, "it's superb!" The digimon buzzed around behind him, "Your mom can do no wrong! This is the best!"

Koushiro ended up not listening to the rest of the ramblings behind him. He was glad that his partner was happy about his staying, but if he was going to stay, he did need a proper place to sleep. He knew that he would have to work around the clock to get it done until he could finally rest. After his first time in the Digital World, he was finished with roughing it on the ground.

The next day, it was Taichi's turn to obsessively worry about his friend. He sat in class with his chocolate eyes on Koushiro's empty seat. He was shocked and instantly concerned about Koushiro's missing school as the redhead never neglected a day unless he was running fever. He worried every single hour of the day, every minute debating whether to send him a text or not.

When the lunch bell chimed, he hurried to each of his friends, to ask if they knew why Koushiro was out of school. He found Sora and Mimi sitting together in the cafeteria, both eating salads. The question spilled from his mouth rather hastily as he approached them, "did either of you get a text from Koushiro?"

The girls were taken aback for a moment because of his use of their friend's given name; no one really called him anything but Izzy. Mimi looked at him and for once didn't blurt something out first.

Sora was a little worried by the tone her friend held, "n-no, why? What's wrong?" She instantly thought it had to do something with the Digital World.

Taichi knew that he was being too rash, "uh…" He put his hand onto his hip and answered as nonchalant as he could, "just, he isn't here today. I wondered if he was sick or something."

Mimi cut her eyes away and continued to stuff her face with kale and carrots.

Sora hummed out of relief, "well, it is super cold lately. He probably did catch a cold."

Taichi eyed Mimi, who was looking really nervous. "He **did** text you!" he snapped, pointing at her.

Mimi almost choked on her food but managed to swallow before snapping back at him, "bite my head off, why don't you!"

He leaned towards her, "what did he say, Mimi?"

She blushed and leaned away from him. She avoided eye contact, "nothing in particular."

Sora glared at her, "what do you know?"

Mimi laughed abruptly, "well! Maybe he's angry at me?"

Taichi's brow loosened, "angry at **you**? For what?"

"Yeah," Sora asked blankly, "what are you talking about?"

Mimi sighed as Taichi backed up. "I was just joking with him, but he never texted me back last night. You know how he is with being oblivious to jokes and stuff. I did tell him I was just playing, though."

Taichi frowned, "what did you say?"

She flinched before standing with her salad, "nothing important. I was just picking at him, because he had to take you home after the party."

Taichi could feel his face heat up, and he couldn't speak.

Mimi began walking away, "gotta go!" She really didn't want to be blamed for anything, and the sooner she left, the faster she could run from the gay jokes she told.

Taichi slumped into a chair and dropped his head to the table with a thud.

Sora picked at her salad, "you know, you're making it super hard to ignore your fight with Izzy."

Taichi groaned, "apparently everyone in the world knows we had a _fight_."

She caught that he put emphasis on the word, "it wasn't a fight then?"

"Not exactly," he mumbled as lifted his head and sighed heavily. "I did something to make him think I don't like him, and now I can't face him."

Sora frowned, "Tai, you are the child of courage. You stood up the every digi-villain we ever faced. I think you can apologize to Izzy."

"Apologize? I have apologized," he huffed. "That's not the issue. It's really complicated."

She sighed, "whatever it is, I think you can get through it if you just talked about it. You should go see him. If he's sick, it might cheer him up." She then leaned towards him and spoke in a hushed tone, "so what **did** happen Saturday night?"

His face became even redder, "what do you mean?!"

She giggled, "well, you were super drunk. We were worried about you."

He frowned, "was…Izzy there the entire time…watching me?"

She lost her smirk and sighed again, "yeah…you sort of stumbled all of the top of him a few times." She smiled nervously when he gaped at her. "You don't remember anything, do you? You saw him with Mimi, and you nearly tackled him to the wall and asked if he was on a date with her."

Taichi shuddered with a blank stare, "I did?"

She nodded, "yeah, but you wouldn't let him get a word in. You told him something about you knew he was there with no one, because he was Izzy. He walked away from you a few times, but he finally worked up the nerve to make you leave with him. I asked if Matt if we should go after you two, maybe see if Izzy needed help, but he said it would be fine."

He covered his face with his hands, "I suck…so much, Sora. How come he didn't call me out on any of it? It would be so easy to shove it in my face and make me apologize for it, but he's Izzy… What am I saying? Even he should put me in my place at times. I can't believe it."

She frowned, worrying about her friend's distress, "Tai…so you two did have a fight that night… Wait…" Her voice became harsh, "did you do something stupid while he was taking you home?! You're such a mean drunk!"

Taichi looked at her with a solemn expression, "yeah…" He recalled hitting his dear redhead…on accident of course. He also remembered the tears in the teen boy's eyes that night. He felt so cold in that moment, mulling it all over. He didn't know what else to do, but he had to make it right. He cut his eyes to Sora, who was still staring at him. "Will you do something for me?" he asked quietly.

She nodded hesitantly.

"Will you text him and ask if he's okay?" he mumbled in a shameful tone.

"But wouldn't it be better for you to-" she started.

"He might hate me too much to reply. He will respond to you. I just want to know if he's sick or if something is wrong," he explained quickly.

She sighed once again and nodded, "sure, okay." She took her phone from her school blazer pocket and began texting their friend. She read it as she typed, " _hey Izzy, what's up with your absence? It's not something to do with the Digital World, is it?_ "

Taichi blinked, "Digital World?"

She sent it, "I thought that if I just flat out asked if he was sick, he would think something was up, so I asked it in a different way. Izzy is too smart not to question my motives."

Taichi was a little surprised that Sora knew how to handle their friend, but it did make sense as she knew Koushiro for as long as he had. "Thanks, Sora," he mumbled as he stood up. He almost didn't hear the lunch bell chime, but he was glad the day was already half over.

After talking with Sora, Taichi felt a bit better, but he still couldn't shake the worry he harbored. It was worse when Sora never received a reply from Koushiro. The rest of his day crawled, even though he tried very hard to keep his mind on his studies. When school was over, he walked home alone. He paused at Koushiro's apartment complex, but he didn't dare try to go closer. He went straight home, where he studied and passed out for a nap before dinner.

The next morning, Taichi felt a little more refreshed. He had it in his mind that he was going to find his courage to speak to his friend…if he was back at school. And if he wasn't back, he would go to his apartment after school. After all, in the yaoi books, the seme (he assumed that was him) was the one who did the confronting.

He heard his sister shout to her mom that she was running late, so he didn't wait for her. He was a bit too nervous to eat breakfast, so he ended up leaving right away. For some…very odd comfort, he read one of Hikari's yaoi mangas on the way. He made sure to keep the cover hidden with his hand and his wits alert to make sure no one would sneak up on him. He would be embarrassed if someone caught him with it. He didn't know why he was risking it, but damn, he was getting too addicted to put it down.

When he turned the corner, he kept reading, observing the pictures. This was one of the sweeter stories about two guys just falling in love. Why did he like it so much? He was beginning to think he was really gay…maybe a little more secure about it, too. He thought if so many yaoi mangas existed, it was okay.

He managed to glance forward to make sure he was still on the right path, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw Koushiro standing in front of his apartment complex with his backpack over his shoulder and something in his hands. Taichi knew he couldn't run away or stop or chicken out. He had to be who he was—the child of courage.

He swallowed, trying to avoid thinking about how cute his friend looked, standing there waiting before a snowy backdrop. Koushiro's eyes were so dark and lowered like he was in a trance. He didn't look sick, just a little lost in thought maybe. Taichi walked up to him and opened his mouth, but he was silenced with the younger teen looked at him.

Koushiro's expression almost twisted when he turned to him. He waited for Taichi to speak, but nothing happened, so he felt he had to say what he needed. He lifted the navy coat in his hands, "my mom washed it."

Taichi blushed as he took his coat with one hand, his fingers accidentally brushing against the younger teen's. In that moment he felt how freezing cold the younger's fingers were; he wanted to grab them, warm them. "Thanks," he blurted out, not noticing his volume.

Koushiro flinched at how loud he said it, but he relaxed again instantly. He nodded, about to turn away.

"You weren't at school yesterday," Taichi started nervously.

Koushiro glanced at him, sort of innocently, cutely. "I had something important to do," he told him. He didn't want to tell any of the others about his time in the Digital World, especially Taichi. He then noticed the book Taichi was holding; the cover had two manga boys on it.

Taichi suddenly cloaked the manga with his coat and smiled nervously, "so, yeah…school."

Koushiro didn't say anything else and turned away to walk on.

Taichi's jaw dropped when his friend just turned and left without him. He thought he was being polite and hinting that they walk together, so did Koushiro not catch that or did he not want to? He gripped his coat and the book tightly as he hurried to his side.

Koushiro wasn't expecting the brunet to catch up like that and flinched again. He tried to keep his eyes before him and ignore him the best he could. His heart couldn't take disappointing him again… He was in love with Taichi, and he didn't want it to be a problem anymore.

"Were you waiting to give my coat back?" Taichi asked nervously.

Koushiro nodded silently. He couldn't ignore him…

"Thank you," Taichi mumbled.

A light blush dusted the redhead's cheeks; his friend's voice was so smooth and gentle. He felt so warm all of a sudden, and his heart rapidly beat in his chest. "You're welcome…" he almost whispered.

Taichi found himself falling deeper in love with him. The way Koushiro was so calm but nervous at the same time…the way he walked, spoke, looked at him… Was it really so bad to be gay? Did he really have to hide it, and why did he have to hold back his feelings? He knew why…because he didn't know how Koushiro felt about something like that. He didn't know if Koushiro would be open-minded or disgusted, and that alone made him feel disgusting. If Koushiro was a girl, it would be so much easier…or if he were a girl, he would be able to kiss the redhead whenever he wanted.

Koushiro glanced at his friend, who had a totally red face now with a spaced look. He was also moving slower. The shorter teen frowned at him, "are you alright? You look really…feverish." He was concerned; he was always concerned as a matter of fact. He wanted Taichi to be okay and happy every moment of every day of every week of every month of every year. He wanted to help him with everything, to support and comfort him. But there was no hope of that now…not that Taichi opposed his feelings. After all, wasn't it Koushiro's feelings for Taichi that caused all of this? Because he somehow showed his love for the boy without realizing it, right?

Taichi forced a smile at him, "I'm fine. I just…was thinking of something. Look; I'm really sorry about everything. I planned to talk to you today about it, whether you came to school or not."

The shorter boy took his turn to blush as red as the older one. He looked at his feet as they walked, "you did?"

"Yeah, I wanted to really say I'm sorry for ignoring you and avoiding you and all the stuff that happened after the party," Taichi told him.

Koushiro hesitated, "I forgive you."

Taichi smiled more, "you do?"

"But I still want my space," Koushiro told him stubbornly. "I want to be alone from now on."

Taichi frowned, "you…don't want to be friends anymore?"

"Not really," Koushiro mumbled in his robotic tone. "I have too much I want to get done, and I don't know if it's wise to keep wasting time on you."

His heart was breaking; Taichi's very soul felt shriveled and smaller. He desperately grabbed the younger's wrist and snapped at him, "what is that supposed to mean? Wasting time on me?"

Koushiro was ready for the confrontation, "it means that I have no idea what you're going through, but you're hurting me too much for me to continue to wait for you to decide you want to be friends again."

Taichi gaped at him, speaking sadly, "I understand, but I don't want you to think that way about me." He was saying the truth; he wanted to straighten all of this out and continue being his best friend. He wanted it so much.

Koushiro never really had many friends, and when Taichi invited him into the relationship and treated him so kindly only to destroy him, he felt really betrayed. He lost his trust.

Taichi watched as the dark eyes lowered and cut away. He slowly let him go, "I'm sorry… I keep grabbing you lately."

Koushiro felt the sting of emotion in his eyes. He frowned sadly, "whenever you feel like being friends again…for real…contact me, okay?"

"Izzy, it's so difficult for me to say what I want," Taichi told him quietly. "I promise that I'm not trying to mess with your mind or anything. I'm confused, and I'm-"

"Then contact me when you're not confused," Koushiro almost snapped. He turned away and hurried on to school. He didn't want to be in his presence any longer. He just needed to get his mind back onto his project.

Taichi felt the irritation burst from him as he shouted to him, "fine! Be that way!" His heart hurt so much, but he knew he couldn't miss school. He had to compose himself as he walked a good distance behind the redhead; it wasn't easy.

* * *

 _Next chapter is super cute~ Please keep reading._


	6. Chapter 6: Desperate Candy Hints

_Sorry for not updating as quickly as I thought I would. I hope you all still want to read!_

 _To me, this is a super cute chapter. Hope you enjoy~_

* * *

 **Coincidence**

Chapter Six: Desperate Candy Hints

Weeks passed, and the cold gradually lost its strength. The snow dared to melt into a messy mush on sidewalks and grass. Every rooftop dripped like rain. The world seems to slowly return to life, but so much had changed while it slept during the winter season.

Soon a month went by, and Koushiro diligently stayed true to his word about going to the Digital World every weekend. Not once had his parents complained or asked him to stay home at all; they seemed okay with it but a bit worried at the same time. Koushiro knew he had their support, whether they agreed or not. Every once in a while his mother would mention that he could invite some of the others to go along with him, but he only agreed and never did. It worried her most that he was missing out on friendships again.

In the Digital World, Koushiro had created a home for he and Tentomon right around the digimon's tree in Beetleland. At first he had a crude cube with a roof, but after a few weeks of playing around with the coding, Koushiro figured out how to add detail and furniture. Since Tentomon's tree was so important to him, Koushiro built the house around it where the tree could stand in the living room and rise through a hole in the ceiling. It was the center of their living area, and Tentomon often perched there comfortably. Koushiro also made himself a bedroom where he could put his things, a big office area where he kept his notes and computers, and they had the necessities like a bathroom, kitchen, and back porch that faced West so they could watch the sunset.

In all his weekends there, he hadn't mentioned it to any of the others. Every once in a while one of their partners would come by; so far only Biyomon, Gabumon, and Palmon ventured in to say hello. Koushiro wasn't much for company, so Tentomon always entertained guests and gave them a tour of the house, which they all envied. Sometimes they would even stay the night.

No matter the visitors, Koushiro always remained working. He even managed to add every piece of code he learned in a document for reference. After getting his home done, he moved onto more complicated coding. On that particular Monday in the third week of February, Koushiro was working on his function to duplicate his digital body for screw up purposes. He knew he missed school after about noon when Tentomon mentioned it was a Monday, so he wasn't in a hurry to get back yet. He was in the middle of a breakthrough with his coding, and he didn't care to leave it just yet.

In the real world, Taichi was having yet another crisis on his hands. When he arrived home, not only was he worried about Koushiro again, but Hikari was making chocolate. He was a little taken aback when his heart pounded at the sound of her telling him that Valentine's Day was tomorrow. He immediately wanted to participate, but he knew that the holiday was when girls gifted chocolate to guys, and he was a guy. However, he was in love with a guy, so he that was enough reason to give Koushiro chocolate, right?

It had been a bit over a month since his redheaded friend told him he didn't want to be friends any longer. Taichi was offered a chance to contact him when he was _ready to be friends for real_ , but he never knew if he really was ready. Every day of not speaking with Koushiro made him want him more, but he was still worried about his friend's reaction to it.

He was also very distraught with Koushiro's behavior since that day. The younger teen was too into his thoughts, even in class. He never caught Koushiro talking with anyone, not even teachers. He usually remained quiet and thoughtful, in his own little world and ignored others. Taichi also noticed that he went straight home and didn't emerge on weekends. That was all the more reason for him to cheer his friend up with chocolates, but he had the issue of someone finding out about it.

"Taichi! Come get your ball! It's in my way!" Hikari called from the kitchen.

Taichi was in their room, mulling over his situation, but he forced himself to venture out to do as he was told. He walked into the kitchen and picked up his futbol, which had rolled right next to his sister, who was whipping chocolate in a bowl.

He really wanted to participate…

Hikari glanced at her brother and let go of the whisk, "this is harder than I thought."

"Huh?" he piped blankly as he hugged his ball.

She sighed, "well, this is my third try at this. The first batch, Mom helped, and uh…it turned out really horrible."

He reached out and dipped his finger into the mix before tasting it. His face could have turned blue from the sheer tasteless concoction that she was working on. He smiled nervously, "uh…yeah, I think you inherited Mom's cooking genes."

Hikari slammed the bowl down and huffed, "this is impossible! I followed the recipe, but it keeps getting worse and worse."

Taichi tossed the ball into the living area, "I'll help." Perfect.

She eyed him, "you can make chocolate?"

"I don't know, but I'll try. If you remember, I can make more than you can," he teased.

She huffed, "oh, okay. Let's try then." She took the bowl to the sink before handing him a clean one from the drying rack.

He took it and looked at the paper of ingredients she had on the counter, "cocoa powder, butter, sugar, milk, confectioner sugar, and water. This sounds easy, Kari."

She turned on the stove again and put a pot with the correct amount of water to boil, "yeah right."

"I mean, it's so simple. I didn't know that you could make chocolate just by doing this," he told her with a smirk.

She huffed and leaned against the fridge with her arms crossed, "It's a simple recipe, and if you think you can then prove it."

He didn't hesitate to get started. He knew if he could make this batch, he could keep it, maybe say that it was his and no stealing. He began by boiling the water, cocoa powder, and butter, and he ended with stirring everything together in the clean bowl she left for him. He tasted it all quite a few times, and it seemed fine, nothing spectacular but fine.

Hikari watched with pouting face, but she never complained or insulted him. She also got the chance to taste it a few times, but she was a little frustrated that hers didn't come out edible like his. When he was finished, she allowed him to use her chocolate mold, which consisted of hearts, stars, and ovals.

Taichi was so proud of himself, and he was even happier that he managed to create average chocolate—more than he could say about his sister's candy. He starred down at the mold and spoke hesitantly, "how long before it gets hard?"

Hikari sighed again, "until it cools. And why do you want to know? You're not eating it."

"What? Yeah, it's mine. I can do whatever I want with it," he told her.

She frowned, "but I need it! I have to give some to TK and a few others in class."

He glared at her, "oh really?"

She blushed a bit, "yeah, why? He's my friend."

He knew it wasn't right to tease her about her _friend_ , because he had a crush of his own. He just couldn't let her take the chocolate; he had too strong of an urge to give it to Koushiro. He smiled at her after debating silently, "well, I could always help you with yours."

She blinked, wondering why he was so adamant about keeping it for himself. "Okay," she mumbled.

Taichi spent the rest of the evening helping her, but he made sure to keep his out of the way of hers. He was actually proud of himself, and the entire time he was helping his sister, he had pink cheeks. He thought about how Koushiro would be so surprise, how he would look at the chocolates with that cute confused stare. He thought about how his friend would be too embarrassed to find who gifted him. That's right, Taichi was too bashful to give them to him by hand, and his plan was to sneak them into the younger teen's locker.

But he couldn't really decide **why** he wanted to do this. He didn't know if he was just caught up in the yoai romance novels or if he really wanted to win over his friend. He was still just as confused as he was when he first realized his feelings, perhaps that was why he didn't want to deliver the gift in person. Little by little he was accepting his love for his friend, and very gradually he was starting to feel comfortable about it.

When the next morning rolled around, Taichi left early—very early. He didn't want anyone to catching him hiding the paper bag of treats away in the boy's locker. He couldn't find a nice box like Hikari, so he drew a heart on a lunch sack, hoping it would be enough. He also refrained from writing actual words as he was sure Koushiro could recognize his hand writing.

He arrived at school, found the correct locker, and hacked the combination to place his gift there. He wasn't shocked that Koushiro's locker was organized and had room to spare, but there were quite a few notebooks that didn't have labels. He was too curious not to know what they were, and since no one was around, he slipped one of the grey folders from the locker to skim through the pages. It was all code. He flipped through the pages, finding nothing but equations, functions, and variables that worked together to form a language. He couldn't make heads or tails of any of it, but he wondered if it was what kept his friend silent and thoughtful. He took out another notebook, but it was filled with the same thing. He wished he were smart enough to understand.

A few girls walked into the hallway, all with cute boxes of chocolates. He put the notebooks back and shut his friend's locker, knowing that the school would fill up soon. He set the paper sack on the self above the books inside. And of course he picked a very creepy corner to peer from in order to see the reaction on his friend's face when he arrived to find the gift.

Koushiro actually did come to school that day, but he had no idea it was Valentine's Day as being deep in his work didn't allow for him to keep the date in his mind. He looked fine, not sick at all, which made Taichi all the more curious as to why he missed school the previous day.

Among the other students walking around, Koushiro stopped at his locker and opened it. Taichi was bursting at the seams with suspense as he waited for the reaction. Koushiro didn't really look into his locker and took the textbook for his first period class before shutting the door. He then proceeded to walk to his first class in silence.

Taichi paled, wondering how Koushiro didn't see it. The heart he drew on the brown paper bag was very red and bright. He had no choice but to go to first period and get back to the hall right after to wait again. He chalked it up to a fluke, that maybe Koushiro was too oblivious, but he had total hope that he would see it the next time he opened his locker.

The next changing of classes, Koushiro went back to his locker, not noticing that he was being watched. He opened it and exchanged his books, then shut the locker again. He left for his next class.

Taichi wanted to throw a fit, and after everyone was gone to class, he opened the locker again and placed the gift on top of the books, so the redhead would definitely see it. Taichi then hurried to class, only to get a tardy.

Much to his dismay, though, Koushiro skipped going to his locker the next hours, and then it was lunch. During that time all of the girls were delivering their chocolates to the boys. Taichi was very tempted to go into the computer lab, where he knew Koushiro was eating alone. But he was stopped in the hallway when Mimi rushed up to him.

The teen girl held about three small boxes, all glittery and pink. She held one out to him and spoke cheerfully, "Taichi! Here you go!"

Taichi blinked, confusingly and took the gift. The first thing that went through his mind was that Mimi of all people was giving him a Valentine's Day box.

She explained with a smirk, "now, you have to get me something on White Day!"

His expression fell into a deadpan as he cut his eyes at her, "is this the only reason why you went to the trouble?"

She winked at him, "mostly, but you are my friend. I got all the digi-boys one!" She picked up another one and sighed, "actually Sora was a little peeved that I tried to give Matt one. Do you want two?" She pointed at him with her pinky, "and by accepting two, you know you have to get me two gifts in return."

He rolled his eyes, "n-no thanks. I'm good." He waved to her as he passed her, "thanks, Mimi! Remind me to get you something next month!"

She giggled, "no biggie!" She skipped down the hall and towards Koushiro's locker, because she wasn't really willing to be rejected as she thought he would do towards her chocolates. She knew her nerdy friend would probably get flustered and start lecturing about how he didn't want or need it, so she decided to leave it in his locker. Unlike Taichi, she actually knew the combination to their friend's locker, because once Koushiro gave it to her in order for her to get something from there.

She opened it with ease and noticed right away that the paper bag was crunched between the books. Unfortunately she didn't see the heart, because the item was turned the wrong way. She hummed to herself, "his lunch is getting smooshed." She picked it up and tossed it onto the top shelf before putting one of her glittering boxes in front of it. She then closed the locker and hurried off to find someone to give the last box to.

Sadly Taichi waited after each class for Koushiro to notice his gift, but he was perturbed that even oblivious Koushiro couldn't see a bag right in front of him. He wondered how in the world he could ignore it when he placed it onto his books. By the end of the day, he worked up enough courage and annoyance to just inquire about it.

Koushiro was at his locker, putting his books away and placing those he would need for homework into his backpack. Taichi walked up to him rather cautiously, hoping that he wouldn't be pissed off that he wanted to talk. He decided to take a friendly approach, something casual. "What's up!" he blurted out.

Koushiro nearly jumped out of his skin and whipped his head around to look at Taichi right next to him. He placed his hand onto his chest, "you startled me."

Taichi held up his hands, "sorry. I didn't mean to." He leaned against the locker next to his and smirked, "so, Valentine's Day."

Koushiro offered a lift of his brow, "…yeah?" He was very confused and a little taken aback that he was finally being talked to.

"Did you get anything?" Taichi asked.

The shorter boy sighed, "y-yeah, from Mimi. She had a note attached to it, saying I had to get her something on White Day."

Taichi crossed his arms, "and?"

Koushiro cut his eyes away then back at him like he was getting nervous, and he was. He didn't understand what he was getting at, "and that's it."

Taichi frowned, "huh? Well, did you check really good?"

The redhead tilted his head to the side in that cute way Taichi loved. He looked into his locker and frowned, "Tai, you know I'm not popular like you-"

Taichi blushed, noticing that his gift from Mimi was the only thing he received. He remembered last year he got tons of gifts, but none this year, so what was up with that? He huffed, "for your information, I only got one of those glittery boxes from Mimi, too."

Koushiro stared at him, "sorry…?"

Taichi suddenly pushed him out of the way gently and began rummaging his locker for the paper sack. "Let me check for you!" he snapped abruptly when Koushiro made a noise of protest. He moved all of the books, even tossed some out to get a good view, but there was nothing. He then looked on the top shelf and saw it shoved in the back. He picked it out and showed it to him, "what do you call this, huh?"

Koushiro was more confused and even more nervous. He hesitantly looked at the item and mumbled, "what **do** I call it?" He honestly didn't remember it being put there.

Taichi noticed that he had it facing the wrong way and turned it around to show his friend the heart. "It's a valentine of course!"

Koushiro glanced away and then back to him, "is it?"

"Are you saying that you don't want it?" Taichi asked in concern. He didn't even think about how transparent he was being, but thankfully for him, neither did Koushiro.

The younger teen hesitantly took the sack and opened it to find destroyed chocolates. They were half melted and squished. He hummed, "I think the person who gave me these really didn't care about presentation."

Taichi leaned over and looked inside. He gaped, "they're ruined!"

Koushiro eyed him, "Tai…are you really so interested in this?"

The older boy froze with lightly blushing cheeks, "uh-"

"I have to get home," Koushiro mumbled a bit lowly. He held the sack towards him, "do you want these?"

Taichi could feel another piece of his heart chipping away. He frowned, "n-no, it's yours. You should at least try them. I mean, someone probably worked hard on them."

Koushiro hummed, "well, I doubt it is anyone I would be interested in, so I see no point."

"Why would you say that?" Taichi asked worriedly.

"There was no name," Koushiro told him.

"Then how do you know it's someone you're not interested in?" Taichi asked quickly.

Koushiro's face turned almost as red as his hair, and he stammered out, "I h-have to go." He turned heel and rushed off, leaving his locker in shambles. He just couldn't face his friend any longer with such a heated face. He was afraid that Taichi would find out, but he was more interested in why Taichi seemed intent on the messy chocolates in his locker. He had to admit that he didn't find them during the day, not until Taichi pointed them out. He wondered if Taichi saw someone put them there, but honestly, he didn't care who did it… He didn't want anyone to like him, because the only person he did love was someone he couldn't have. However, it did feel good to talk to him again.

Taichi was left with the mess he made, but he cleaned it up rather slowly. He felt bad about getting in Koushiro's face; it seemed all he did was make things worse. He wondered if he should catch up to him and apologize again, but he didn't want to keep saying sorry like some kind of wimp. He wanted to be strong, courageous, and confident again. He just didn't know how. All he wanted to do was go home and take a hot shower, sulk for the rest of the night about how Koushiro didn't like the chocolates.

* * *

 _I hope Koushiro doesn't seem too jerky, but he is pretty much super withdrawn and bitter atm. Look for the next chapter sooner than later this time._


	7. Chapter 7: Exhausting Melting Drops

**_A few things before you read this chapter..._**

 _\+ thank you so much for the support via reviews. I do get them through email, and each one has put a smile on my face._

 _\+ I'm sorry for the long wait. Some things have happened in my life... I mentioned on a couple of chapters that my health was declining... One side of my heart was getting too large, because I have a leaky valve since birth. So blood was slowly filling my heart. I needed surgery. I've had a few open-heart surgeries already, and the doctors said this looks like the last I'll need. So yeah, I had my last open-heart surgery Sept 2016. It took a long time to recover and gain my strength back. I was very depressed afterwards (which is apparently a side effect for such a harsh surgery). But I can say that I'm part pig now, because they used a pig valve to repair me. So...oink._

 _\+ So you're thinking, okay, did it take that long to recover? Well, I was up and okay around summer time of 17', so I decided to buy a snowcone stand. (I had to borrow quite a bit of money, so yeah...it was probably a bad idea). At the same time I went back to work at my first job as an assistant manager for a theatre. They promoted me to manager shortly after. (I know, what does this have to do with anything...)_

 _\+ Anyways, during my surgery, there is this annoying guy...I mean, I like him, but I didn't want him to be there for my surgery. He came anyway...all the way from Florida to Louisiana where I am. Every time I woke up for a few minutes, he was by my bedside. He stayed a whole week with me in the hospital and helped my mom and sister. It was sweet. Well, he finally got me to fly to see him the summer of 17'. He took me to Harry Potter world and the beach. He actually proposed to me._

+So in short, I had surgery, recovered, opened my own business, got engaged, sold my business, quit my job, moved to Florida (he's in law school so not much choice). It's been a huge adjustment, but after going through what I had, I knew I had to just take a plunge.

So now you know why I've been MIA. **I will try to update more now.** I have more free time.

* * *

 **Coincidence**

Chapter Seven: Exhausting Melt Drops

Within just a few weeks, Koushiro was able to complete his function for duplicating his body if need be. He actually was able to create the duplicate in plain sight, but with his body already there in the Digital World, the second body was only a hologram. He wondered if he would be able to actually transfer to such a body. He wrote the function very similar to how digimon reconfigure back to Primary Village, but instead his destination was the bed in his bedroom in his and Tentmon's house. So every time he regenerated, he would end up there.

One weekend, the first in March, Koushiro was typing away at his computer just after watching the sunset with his partner. Tentomon offered to take him out to eat again, but he declined as he was very excited about pouring code out to write more functions that would do him more good.

By midnight, his digimon was sleeping, perched in his tree in the living room. Koushiro was a bit tired but still willing and able to type away at a consistent speed. It wasn't until he hit a block in his coding that he paused for a moment to step away and stretch his legs. He usually went to get something to drink from the kitchen, but this time he paced around, trying to figure out why he was having trouble with the particular line referring to a call to action.

After a few minutes of stretching, he returned to his computer to see that he line of code he left halfway finished was now completed, and three equations before it were altered as well. He then felt that he might be way too sleepy to decipher what he had done and hadn't.

But just as he decided that it was enough for the night, a message in a separate window popped up on the bottom left side of his screen. The message was simple, " _will that work, Knowledge?_ "

He rubbed his eyes and looked at the message with no known sender. In fact the message wasn't transported via any messenger program he had installed. There was only a white background, message board, and a text area. He didn't skip a beat as he wrote to the stranger, " _it just might. Thank you._ "

The person messaged back, " _You like to keep several tabs open at once. I am the same way._ "

He frowned, wondering how in the world the sender knew how many windows he had up on his screen, let alone how they altered his code. He asked the obvious question, " _May I ask whom you are?_ "

" _My name is Oshianamon,_ " the sender answered. " _I am an admin to the Digital World._ "

Koushiro's eyes widened as he read the last sentence about three times before responding, " _I have so many questions for you. Do you mind?_ "

" _I do not have much time, but I will tell you this..._ " Oshianamon replied. " _I look forward to helping you with your quest of becoming admin. I do not know how you can, but I think you might be able to pull it off. Will you accept my assistance?_ "

The redhead became more excited, " _help would be prodigious. I'm working on a series of functions that will allow me to edit the code via brainwaves._ "

" _I have that answer. Allow me to type it up for you,_ " the sender said.

Koushiro smiled, " _I would appreciate that._ "

" _It will be in a new document by morning. Will you wait until then?_ " Oshianamon asked.

The teen knew that he did need sleep, but he was just too excited to go to bed now. He answered promptly, " _take all the time you need, Oshianamon. I look forward to testing it._ "

" _We will talk again then,_ " the sender told him before the window closed by itself.

He was too excited to sleep, but his body didn't allow itself to recharge with the newfound knowledge of an existing admin. In fact, he wondered why the person was so intent on helping in such a friendly manner. He knew he couldn't get too hopeful and trusting, but he was just too happy to receive some help.

Morning hit him like a truck, and he woke up on the floor with Tentomon shaking him frantically. "Izzy! Izzy! Speak to me!" the digimon cried out frantically.

Koushiro groaned and sat up with an overwhelming grogginess. He rubbed his face and sighed as Tentomon proceeded to poke at his arms and ask if he was okay. "I'm fine. I must have dozed off in my chair," he finally told him as his eyes shifted to his toppled-over rolling chair. He got up and stretched, "promise, I'm okay."

"You don't look okay. It looks like you have dark gears around your eyes," Tentomon scolded, referring to the sleep-deprived dark circles. "You need to get more rest! You need to really get away from that computer today and get a nap."

"Sorry, I know," Koushiro smiled nervously. "I was just really into writing the portion for my controlling certain attributes, and then I got a message-" He flinched and quickly hurried to his computer, where he woke up the machine. "That's right! I got a message last night, Tentomon. Apparently there is already an admin for the Digital World, which I guess I can see possible, but wow, so baffling and-"

"Izzy, you know I have no idea what you're saying," the bug cut him off as he lifted into the air and looked over his partner's shoulder.

Koushiro gaped a huge smile as he found a new document on his desktop. He opened it and skimmed it over, "amazing. Oshianamon really did it."

" _Oshianamon_?" Tentomon mimicked.

"Yeah, that's the name of the admin," Koushiro answered as he picked up his chair and sat down again. He put his hand onto his chin and began reading.

"Hey! What about getting a nap?" Tentomon asked.

"I will soon. You can't expect me to just leave this here without taking a look," Koushiro waved him away before dazing out.

Tentomon buzzed around his head, "don't you have school today? It's a Monday."

"Tentomon, this is huge. The admin might contact me again, and I want to be here."

"Are you sure it's okay for you to stay one more day?" the bug asked worriedly.

"It's fine. I'll go back as soon as I get to a stopping point today," Koushiro told him. "Look," he started as he opened his email in a browser tab, "I'll send a note to my dad explaining everything."

The digimon didn't say another word on it, but he did propose breakfast and hurried off to get it. Tentomon didn't know too much about human protocol and school and what not, so he trusted his partner to do what was right considering all of that.

Right before Koushiro was about to send his father the email, another mysterious message popped up. The sender wrote, " _good morning, Knowledge._ "

Koushiro wanted to squee but held it together. He typed calmly, " _good morning, Oshianamon._ "

" _You found the document then. I hope you do not mind the format I use,_ " Oshianamon wrote.

" _Formatting is just a personal thing. I appreciate your help,_ " Koushiro typed.

" _I sent a copy of the document to your laptop, so that you do not miss school today,_ " Oshianamon said.

Koushiro lost all expression on his face and sat there for a moment before responding, " _you know quite a bit about me then._ "

" _I am an admin here. I know about you, the other Digidestined, and every pixel here in this world. Now, please go to school. I would not want you to hinder coming here in the future. You know it is the logical thing to do,_ "

He looked at his watch to see it was a bit after seven AM in his world, but he didn't want to go. He sighed and typed back to the admin, " _missing one day won't be-_ "

Before he could even finish his message to send it, the admin sent, " _you must not like school and your human life to avoid it. Do not even finish typing the rest of your excuse._ "

Koushiro felt a chill run down his spine as he realized that he admin only chatted on his screen, because he couldn't see his/her words otherwise. The admin could in fact hear him and even read his thoughts…or the computer screen at least. He suddenly wanted to please this person and erased his current message to type a new one, " _I will read the document at schoo_ -"

Again before he could even finish, the admin sent, " _I look forward to your thoughts on it then. Have a good day._ "

Koushiro watched as the message box disappeared. He felt a variety of emotions. He was intimidated, excited, in awe… An admin really did have ultimate power, and he was all the more ready to accept his/her help to learn all he could.

Tentomon flew back into the room, "okay, bad news. I have no breakfast, but Palmon invited us to come to her place whenever we would like!"

"Sorry, Tento," Koushiro told him, getting up quickly and stuffing his laptop into his backpack. "I have to go to school."

"So you are going?" the digimon asked.

"Yeah," Koushiro mumbled blankly. He then looked to his partner, "I'll be back in two or three days, depending on how quickly I decipher the new document. Okay?"

Tentomon scolded him like a mother again, "you had better take care of your human world business, Izzy. I mean it."

Koushiro smiled gently, "I know, I know."

It didn't take long to get his things together. He was soon in front of the vacant computer screen near Beetleland, where he held up his digivice and transported back to his desktop at home. He was now a pro at it, so he landed onto his feet but stumbled due to lack of rest. He hit his shoulder against his closet door and hurriedly got dressed.

"Izzy? Is that you?" Kae's voice asked at his closed door. "You must have come back late last night."

Koushiro answered nervously, "y-yeah, Mom. Sorry about that! I was caught up in some ground-breaking stuff."

"So you're going to school today?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course, Mom," he answered, slipping on his jacket.

"I'll pack you a lunch and some to-go breakfast," she said before walking to the kitchen.

He didn't have time to wait on her too much longer, but he didn't say anything against it, even though he never ate lunch anyway. He looked into the small mirror on his wall and frowned at his dark circles; they really did look like black gears. He knew his mother couldn't see or else she would worry. He patted his face, rubbed his cheeks, but only ended up yawning and looking worse.

Not five minutes later, Kae knocked on his door, "you'll be late."

He took a breath and opened the door, bowing respectfully as he took the items from her. "Thanks Mom! See you when I get home!" he called as he turned away from her quickly and rushed to the door.

She followed him, "have a great day, son."

"Thanks!" he repeated as he slipped on his shoes and hurried out the door.

He rushed down the stairs, stumbling a few times. He didn't realize how disoriented he was until he began actually walking at a quick pace. He made his way to the sidewalk and looked at the bento in his hand and a bagel in the other. He frowned, feeling a bit sick, and the first opportunity he had, the bagel was discarded in a trash container. He didn't want to disrespect his mother's care, but he had that dizzy, motion-sickness feeling; he couldn't eat. The air was still cool but not as freezing as it had been. He wished it was colder out, because he was really sweaty all of a sudden. He knew it was because of his lack of rest over the past few weeks, but he didn't want to admit that he was neglecting his health. His foot hit a crack in the sidewalk, and he stumbled again but didn't fall. He ended up panting. He didn't feel well at all.

First hour seemed to go by so quickly, but perhaps that was because he slept most of it away. He was a little shocked that the teacher didn't say anything to him, maybe because he was an advanced student. However, he didn't get any of the lecture notes, and he wished he would have been able to stay awake for that at least.

Second hour was worse. He got there and drudged to his desk, which was closer to the back of the room near Taichi's. He walked down the aisle, and due to his fatigue, he tripped over his own feet. He luckily caught himself on someone else's desk, but he dropped his book. He panted shakily, but his ears perked when he heard a voice.

Taichi was out of his seat in a flash, and he now had his hands on one of their classmates, "did you trip Izzy?!" He had a frantic rage about him, "why would you do that?!"

Everyone, including Koushiro, turned their attention to Taichi making a scene.

The boy being blamed began to shiver, "n-no! I didn't do anything!"

"I'm fine, Tai," Koushiro said, trying to rescue the boy in trouble. "I tripped over my own feet."

Taichi reluctantly let go of the boy and frowned at his friend, who made his way to his seat tiredly.

The boy scowled at Taichi but didn't say anything as he sat down, mostly because he feared the futbol player's temperament.

Taichi walked to his own desk with a flustered face and sat down silently, too. He couldn't believe he leapt into action like that. From his point of view, he saw Koushiro trip right at the boy's desk as if the other student did it. He honestly didn't know if that's what happened, and Koushiro downplayed it to avoid confrontation. Or if his friend was really that tired. He sort of got his answer when he stiffly eyed the redhead. He gaped when he saw Koushiro's hand holding up his face, but he was out like a light. Taichi had never seen someone fall asleep so quickly in class, which hadn't even started yet.

When the teacher arrived and began to take roll, she snapped at Koushiro to wake up. She slammed a ruler against his desk and made him sit up straight. Taichi could see that his friend was desperately trying to stay awake, but it just wasn't happening. He felt terrible for him, and decided to help him out. Every time Koushiro would doze off, Taichi would throw a ball of paper at him, sometimes a pencil, or an eraser. Koushiro would wake again but never know what woke him. Taichi felt like a little guardian angel; it wasn't common that he could help the boy genius.

This _protection_ went on until break, and Taichi didn't feel quite right leaving Koushiro to wander off alone. He knew that his friend was probably going to push him away, so he stayed at a distance and followed him to the computer lab. He waited until his friend was inside and waited outside the door, eating his lunch standing up. He noted that Koushiro didn't even take his lunch with him, but he didn't try to chase him down about it. He only stayed in the _shadows_ , watching him carefully. He began to worry when he saw that Koushiro slept the entire break. He wondered if the teenager got any sleep the night before.

By the time the final bell of the day rolled around, Taichi was deeply worried. Even after a nap in class, he would be perked up, but Koushiro seemed to be a zombie the entire day. The darkness around his eyes seemed to only get worse, too. He knew that Koushiro would be walking home, and he made the decision again to protect him. So many instances of trouble and accidental death befalling Koushiro ran through his head; he had to follow him home like a creep to ensure he didn't pass out in the street or fall from the stairs.

At first, he saw that Koushiro seemed awake enough to gather all of his books and swing his backpack over his shoulders. He watched his friend leave campus, and he followed silently, sneakily. He kept debating on whether he should talk to him or not, but he never did. Bittersweet as it was, they were soon halfway to the Izumi residence.

Koushiro was sweating and panting more than he had all day; he felt like he was in a dream. His entire body began to feel numb. He knew it was because he hadn't been eating and resting properly. It was logical to feel this way, but he didn't want his mother to worry. He didn't want to go home in such a state. When he was closer to home, he made a detour into an alley between apartment buildings.

Taichi flinched when he saw his friend walk into the narrow pathway and stop at a closed dumpster. He followed to the entrance and peeked like a stalker.

Koushiro leaned against the brick wall and panted, lowering his head and bowing over. He just needed a moment to rest, but he felt so cold and hot at the same time. He was so exhausted and sick. He kept telling himself to straighten up, to just go home, eat, sleep, and get to work on that code. He knew he needed to get back to what the admin sent to him; he hadn't be able to look at it all day due to his fatigue.

Taichi couldn't take it any longer; something was wrong. He hurried into the alley and spoke desperately, "Koushiro!"

The redhead froze and lost his breath. He had no time to react.

Taichi touched his shoulders, "let me take you to the hospital-"

Koushiro flinched before jerking his body forward to get away from him, but he stumbled again and fell to his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut and panted again.

"Koushiro," Taichi breathed worriedly as he knelt with him. "Please, let me help you-"

"Leave me alone, Tai!" Koushiro cried out sadly. Tears pricked his eyes, and he wondered why in the world he was so emotional at that moment. He bit his lip and quickly wiped them with the back of his hand.

Taichi frowned, "I know you hate me, but you need help. I'm not leaving you alone!" He waited but didn't get a response. He frowned more, "I'll take you home." He still didn't get anything. "Hospital or home, Izzy!" he gave him a choice.

Koushiro was ashamed, scared… He didn't want Taichi to see his weakness, because he didn't want Taichi to worry. When he witnessed his worry, he felt more attached to him…like he had hope that he could really keep loving him. But that was foolish, and he would rather Taichi just ignore him than give him that sort of false expectation.

"Fine hospital," Taichi snapped as he managed to scoop his short friend into his arms in order to lift him.

Koushiro gasped as he was cradled perfectly into his friend's grasp. He felt Taichi's strong arms under his knees and around his back. His dark eyes connected with the chocolate irises, and he begged, "no! Home!" His parents would only have matching heart attacks if they had to find him in a hospital bed; he couldn't have that.

Taichi's eyes softened as he paused from picking him up of the ground, so the result was Taichi knelt on his knees, holding the boy to his chest, staring down at him. He suddenly felt like he was in one of those yaoi novels, and his entire face went red. Koushiro's cute pout and blushing cheeks teased him. This wasn't want he was going for; all he was trying to do is get his friend some help. His heart began beating faster as he looked into his eyes.

Koushiro felt so light-headed, and his heart raced uncomfortably. He began shivering, too. Taichi had him in his arms… He was in his arms… Taichi was so warm and strong; he wanted to be held forever. It was…comforting, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't enjoy it.

"You look so sick, Koushiro," Taichi whispered sadly.

The redhead frowned, "I'm not… I just haven't had enough sleep. I'm fati…fatigued." His words were slurred, and the warmth from Taichi was enough to lull him to sleep.

Taichi watched his friend's eyes slowly roll and flutter. He had an urge and just went with it. He pulled the boy closer and hugged him tightly. Resting his face onto the red hair, he whispered, "if something serious is wrong…tell me." He meant it so much; seeing his beloved this way was tearing him up.

Koushiro felt his ears heat up as he was cuddled. He knew he would only worry his friend if he didn't tell him, but he was afraid to be on close terms with him again. He bit his lip and rested against the older boy's chest, taking in his soothing scent. "I've been working on code," he told him simply, knowing anything beyond the word would be over Taichi's head. "I haven't been sleeping at night and devoting all my weekends to it. I keep forgetting to eat, too. So…"

A sharp pang hit Taichi's heart; Koushiro was losing sleep because of some code…not him. He smiled softly, knowing it was just like him, "really…"

Koushiro didn't know if he should say anything, so he stayed silent. He enjoyed this…this one solitary moment of bliss. He felt that if he were a girl, this would be normal. If Taichi were a girl, it would probably be the other way around. But if they could be together, there would be no limit to being so close. He got emotional again but managed to keep it in.

"Let me walk you home," Taichi ordered; it wasn't a plea. His voice was strong, "I don't want you to fall."

The younger boy closed his eyes and relaxed in his arms, "n-not yet. I don't want to scare my mom. I need to calm down."

Taichi cuddled him again, "okay…" After a minute or so, he apologized, "I'm sorry for grabbing you…again."

"No," Koushiro responded too quickly, "I…I was cold anyway."

That made Taichi happy, because he wanted to keep holding him. He really wanted to keep him in his arms, and after not speaking to him for so long, it felt like a dream come true. He smiled to himself and murmured, "are you still cold?"

Koushiro hesitated, "uh…y-yeah…"

Taichi squeezed him a bit tighter, "just…um…tell me when you get warm."

"Okay," Koushiro whispered quietly, but he didn't feel nervous or scared. He was too sleepy to care if this was crossing the line. Taichi was being a good friend and warming him up, and he was taking it the wrong way. "Tai?" he started sadly.

"Hm?" the older boy asked.

"I'm sorry," he told him, "for…you know…the things I said."

"No, it's okay," Taichi mumbled. "You're not like the others, Izzy. You really put your all into a friendship, and I know when I started being weird, it must have hurt your feelings a lot."

Koushiro's blush burned at his cheeks as he unconsciously buried his face into Taichi's chest.

Taichi was now seeing the fault in this tangle of embrace; he was getting…aroused. He wanted to kiss the younger really hard and hungrily. He wanted to shout out his feelings, confess to every single time he wanted to hold him just like this.

"I don't want to lose you, Taichi," Koushiro said with a slight whine.

That sleepy tone and desperation pushed Taichi over the edge, and he squeezed the boy even tighter. His lips pressed hard against the red hair, and his nose inhaled a huge whiff of the sweet scent. He could feel his arousal growing by the second, and he had to make a choice: allow his secret to be revealed or not.

Koushiro's eyes were wide as he felt lips on his scalp; Taichi was giving him a long, firm kiss. He couldn't take it. It had to be a dream. It had to be some sort of hallucination, and if he was having such a real hallucination, he needed to get away from him before he did something very revealing and bad.

At that point, Taichi made the brave decision to tell him. He opened his mouth, ready with a burning courage.

"I have to go," Koushiro pulled away from him weakly.

Taichi frowned, slowly letting him go.

Koushiro scrambled to his feet and panted again, "I need to get home."

Taichi saw how deeply crimson his friend's face was, and he couldn't tell if he regretted kissing him. He stood and reached for him, "you look really upset."

Koushiro looked at him shyly and frowned, "does it look really bad?"

Taichi couldn't help but to smile, "a little, yeah." He carefully slipped Koushiro's backpack off of him and swung it over his shoulder, "let's go get something to drink. That'll make you feel better."

Koushiro reached for his bag, "I can-"

"No, you really can't," Taichi cut him off. He offered his free hand out to him.

Koushiro stared at that courageous, confident Taichi smile. He missed that look so much, but it made him wonder a little. However, he was happy. He was really, really, really, very happy in that moment. He lifted his hand and hesitantly took the tanned one.

Taichi pulled him along. He didn't know what he was doing, if it was even the right thing. He wanted Koushiro to be by his side, and he realized the only way to have that happen again was to build trust between them once more. Koushiro was like a skittish woodland creature; Taichi's drama scared him away. He still didn't know what he was going to do with his feelings, but that kiss wasn't a total fail. Maybe to some people it was a fail, but he didn't feel that it was. It felt right, and the vibes he got, even though Koushiro pretty much wanted to leave, were good. He figured he would test more affection out on Koushiro, because had to face that his feelings weren't going to go away. He loved Koushiro. He loved him enough to accept any answer to his feelings he would get. He loved him enough to put aside his turmoil and help him. He loved him too much to have him withdraw from him ever again.

* * *

 _I know, Taichi is being really flip-floppy. I meant to have him drag it out more before coming to terms, but I thought you all would want some romance already._

 _Thank you for reading thus far._

 _And for those of you who waited so long, you are superstars._

 _(Hoping everyone has a great Valentine's Day, single or not!)_


End file.
